A young man died in pain after the price of his inhaler suddenly rose from $ 66 to $ 540.
Cole Schmidtknecht, 22, who had fought chronic asthma since his youth, was denied his life-saving inhaler when he started collecting his recipe in a Walgreens-Pothootheek in Appleton, Wisconsin on January 10, 2024.
The pharmacist had informed him that his medication would now cost $ 539.19 – a shocking increase in his usual costs of $ 66.86.
Walgreens had suddenly refused to cover his usual recipe under insurance after Optumrx changed his policy in the fall of 2023.
Unable to pay the astronomical price, Cole left the store without its inhaler.
For five painful days, Cole had difficulty breathing, with only an emergency inhaler.
His desperate fight ended in tragedy on January 15, 2024, when he suffered a fatal asthma attack.
Cole providers found Cole unconscious and blue.
Cole Schmidtknecht, 22, who had fought chronic asthma since his youth, was denied his life-saving inhaler when he started collecting his recipe in a Walgreens-Pothootheek in Appleton, Wisconsin on January 10, 2024
The pharmacist had informed him that his medication would now cost $ 539.19 – a shocking increase in his usual costs of $ 66.86
Despite attempts to save him, he was declared dead.
His destroyed parents made the heartbreaking decision to remove living support on January 21.
Now the Van Cole family is fighting back and launches a lawsuit against Optumrx, Walgreens and Walgreens Boots Alliance.
They seek compensation for negligence and unlawful death.
Cole reportedly did not receive a warning about the change of insurance coverage, which violates Wisconsin Statenet Act that requires a 30 -day notification.
According to the court case obtained by Newsweek, the Walgreens -PoHeker should have contacted Cole's doctor about alternative treatments, but this could not do this.
The pharmacist has never given Cole again affordable solutions to obtain his usual inhaler for his chronic asthma, “read the lawsuit.
Schmidtknecht 'struggled repeatedly for breathing and only trusted his old' salvation '(emergency) inhaler to limit his symptoms because he had not designed a preventive inhaler for daily use, “according to the court case.
The legal battle will be heard by the American district judge Byron Browning Conway, an appointed Biden, according to the law and crime.
This is only a few months after graduated Ivy League Luigi Mangione was accused of murder because Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare on a sidewalk of Manhattan on December 4, would have been shot.
Walgreens had suddenly refused to cover his usual recipe under insurance after Optumrx changed his policy in the fall of 2023
Unable to afford it, Cole left the store without its inhaler. For five days, Cole struggled to breathe and only used an emergency inhaler. On January 15, 2024 he received a fatal asthma attack
Now the Van Cole family is fighting back and launches a lawsuit against Optumrx, Walgreens and Walgreens Boots Alliance. They seek compensation for negligence and unlawful death
Earlier this month, a damn new report showed that UnitedHealth Group has charged some cancer patients with more than 1,000 percent too much for life -changing medicines.
The findings of the Federal Trade Commission, which also names CVS and Signa and is ashamed, was reported as a huge profit as UHG.
UHG's net income rose slightly to $ 5.54 billion in the last quarter of 2024, despite the killing of Thompson.
The murder shocked the country and temporarily fluctuated the shares of the insurance company – but the UHG parent group seems to be popping up again.
The FTC report showed that the largest pharmacy benefit managers, those who are companies who manage prescriptions on prescription for health insurance providers, have caught an extra $ 7.3 billion over five years to 2022 thanks to price guts.
This included UHG's Pharmacy Benefit Manager, Optumrx, together with Cignna's Express Scripts and CVS Caremark RX.
“The BIG 3 PPMs marked countless generic medicines issued thousands of percent on their affiliated pharmacies, and many others with hundreds of percent,” concluded the report.
