CVS allegedly squeezing retailers

Pharmacy giant CVS stands accused of overcharging Ohio taxpayers millions in an attempt to drive out retail competition — a charge that CVS flatly denies.

Bottom line: The company allegedly boosts its profits by overcharging insurers for medications while often reimbursing pharmacists less than the cost of the drug, critics say.

As a result, retail pharmacies in the Buckeye State have been dropping like flies, and state regulators are looking at ways to bring more transparency to a Medicaid benefits-management system that CVS dominates.

“Where I’m losing pharmacies right now is in high-Medicaid areas,” said Antonio Ciaccia of the Ohio Pharmacists Association. He noted that 165 Ohio pharmacies have shuttered in the past two years.