McMaster presents settlement check to Pawleys Island clinic

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster present a check for $5000 Monday morning to the Smith Medical Clinic in Pawleys Island, to support the group’s medical outreach to low-income, disabled, and elderly beneficiaries.

According to a news release, the funds are part of a settlement reached by twenty-eight state attorneys general early this year with Caremark, one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits management companies. The company processes prescription drug claims and negotiates pharmaceutical volume discounts for employer and government health plans.

The clinic serves low-income residents of the Pawleys Island area who have no medical coverage (no Medicaid, Medicare, or private health insurance, the release says.

The complaint filed by the states against Caremark and two of its subsidiaries alleged that Caremark engaged in deceptive business practices by encouraging doctors to switch patients to different brand-name prescription drugs and representing that the patients and/or health plans would save money.

According to the release, funds received by the states from this settlement are to be directed, at the discretion of the attorneys general, to benefit low-income, disabled, or elderly consumers of prescription medications, to promote lower drug costs for state residents, or to educate consumers concerning the cost differences among medications.