An Acadiana-based law firm has filed a class-action lawsuit against CVS over its text blast to its patients urging them to tell lawmakers to oppose House Bill 358 in the waning moments of the legislative session. Jerome Moroux with the law firm of Broussard, David and Moroux says the issue here is using patient information for political purposes.
“They were encouraging folks who just go into their pharmacies to reach out to the legislators to kill the bill,” Moroux said.
A provision was tacked onto that bill at the last minute, stipulating that pharmacy benefit managers could not own pharmacies. Supporters say that would bring down prescription costs, but CVS said that would have forced it to close all of its stores in the state. Moroux says CVS used private patient information in an illicit manner.
“CVS thought it was fit to actually use that private information and share it with texts all across the state,” Moroux said.
Moroux says one thing he and his legal team wants to know is what information was used by CVS in distributing its message.
“How did they, so quickly, put all this together? It truly was, at least appears to be to those who received it, something that was made with great scope and scale and very quickly,” Moroux said.
Ultimately, House Bill 358 died when the Senate failed to vote on the amended version before time ran out. In a statement, CVS says it had a responsibility to inform its customers of what it calls misguided legislation that sought to shutter its pharmacies, and it acted accordingly. It calls its communication with its customers consistent with the law.
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