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Wal-Mart Agrees to Stock Plan B in Connecticut Stores

July 12, 2006

Birth Control • Ortho-Evra Patch Should Be Withdrawn: Public Citizen • Contraceptive Pill May Help Conception • Birth Control Pill Linked to Heart Disease • New Contraceptive Eliminates Women’s Periods • FDA Approves OTC Sales of Plan B • Wal-Mart Agrees to Stock Plan B in Connecticut Stores • Wal-Mart to Begin Dispensing "Morning After" Pill This Week • FDA: Birth Control Patch Needs More Study • Little Risk with Today's IUDs • Wal-Mart May Stock "Emergency" Contraceptives • New Warning Labels for Ortho Evra Contraceptive Patch • Feds Toughen Warning for Depo-Provera

Wal-Mart has agreed to stock the "Plan B" emergency contraceptive in all of its Connecticut stores, Connecituct Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said. Wal-Mart also has created a comprehensive contingency plan to ensure that the treatment is properly dispensed in cases where a store pharmacist objects to doing so.

Wal-Mart said in March that it would stock the "morning-after" contraceptive known as Plan B in all of its stores across the country. The chain made the decision after the Massachusetts pharmacy board ruled it must do so in its 44 Massachusetts pharmacies.

The agreement comes four months after Blumenthal ruled that State Comptroller Nancy Wyman -- who administers the health insurance plan for 188,000 Connecticut state employees, retirees and their dependents -- could exclude Wal-Mart from the state's insurance network if it refused to dispense the treatment.

"I am gratified that Wal-Mart has agreed to do the right thing for all women in Connecticut and their families," Wyman said. "Whether it is Plan B or any other prescription, I believe medical decisions should be made between a patient and a physician, not a pharmacy."

"Wal-Mart has recognized its responsibility to respect the state's pharmacy plan terms in full, not selectively. The state's health insurance plans clearly required this result, and I will take appropriate action to assure compliance, working with the comptroller," Blumenthal said.

"The law and the state plan should -- and do -- respect medical decisions made by the patient and her physician, without interference. The state prescription plan has the force of law, and we will enforce it. If Wal-Mart -- or any pharmacy -- fails to provide a medically necessary covered prescription, the right exists to remove them from the network."

Wyman sought a ruling from Blumenthal after Wal-Mart said it would not dispense the drug. The agreement spells out a detailed contingency plan that ensures customers will not be refused treatment - even in the case of a conscientious objection by an individual pharmacist.

In cases where a pharmacist declines to dispense the prescription, the pharmacist will attempt to locate another Wal-Mart pharmacist to do so, or make arrangements for the customer's prescription to be filled at another nearby Wal-Mart or other pharmacy.

Each Wal-Mart pharmacy will maintain a list of alternative area pharmacies willing to dispense the treatment.

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