Malinda Fields was three days away from her diabetes medication running out.
“That’s a matter of life and death,” Fields said.
The Northeast Philadelphia Rite Aid that Fields was going to closed along with the drugstore chain’s other locations in September 2025. Fields’ attempts to find another pharmacy near her home did not come easy and required a long trip to pick up her medication since she relies on public transportation.
“Just don’t feel like I should have to take all these buses to go get my prescription,” she said.
Other Pennsylvanians are facing the same issue. According to the Pennsylvania Department of State, more than 400 pharmacies have gone out of business so far this year, fueling what’s been called, “Pharmacy deserts.” In a city, that means a person lives more than a mile away from a pharmacy. In the suburbs, it’s five miles away and in rural communities, it’s 10 miles away.
Since 2020, more than 1000 pharmacies have closed across Pennsylvania, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of State that the NBC10 Investigators analyzed. Pharmacies have also closed in 61 of the 67 counties across the commonwealth and more than 450,000 people without access to vehicles live in a zip code where at least one pharmacy closed, the analysis shows.
According to Good RX, in the Philadelphia area about 250,000 people live in a pharmacy desert.
The NBC10 Investigators also looked at demographic information for the closures. The median income for zip codes that had at least one pharmacy closed over the last five years was $71,000, census data shows. That’s slightly lower than the state’s median income which sits at $76,000. The “19124” zip code in Northeast Philadelphia had 11 pharmacies closed since 2020, the most of any place in the state.
“I think this is one of the greatest public health crises in the country,” Steve Anderson, the President and CEO of the National Association of Chain Drugstores, said.
Anderson’s association represents pharmacies across the country. He believes the main causes of the closures are Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), third-party middlemen that go between drug manufacturers, insurers and pharmacies.
“The growing influence and power of Pharmacy Benefit Manager companies. And they’re putting more pharmacies out of business,” Anderson said.
PBMs determine which drugs are covered by an insurer, how much they cost and ultimately how much pharmacies get paid.
“The middlemen who add no value in terms of what they provide,” Anderson said.
The Pharmacy Care Management Association (PCMA), a trader organization that represents PBMs, disagrees with the claim that PBMs are the reason for pharmacy deserts, however.
“There are many factors that go into pharmacy closures,” Greg Lopes, a PCMA spokesperson, said. “In rural areas, there is a lack of providers, hospitals, doctors, and that can lead to pharmacy closures. People are now getting their drugs online quite a bit.”
Lopes told NBC10 PBMs negotiate to get lower prices for drugs.
“It all starts with the price of the drug and only Big Pharma can set those prices and raise drug prices,” he said.
The drugstore industry wants the state of Pennsylvania to do more to protect pharmacies and regulate PBMs.
The Pharmacy Benefit Reform Act — which gives power to the insurance department to regulate how PBMs operate in the state — was passed and signed more than a year ago.
“That process has been very opaque and it’s one that really cost consumers a lot of money out of pocket,” said Michael Humphreys, the Insurance Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.
The law also forces PBMs to be more transparent about how they do business, including payments to pharmacies. Humphreys told NBC10 the law also gives pharmacies more of a voice.
“The pharmacist can complain to us if they feel like for instance a PBM is giving an affiliate better terms or better rates than it’s giving the pharmacy or a consumer,” Humphreys said.
Meanwhile, Fields is concerned more pharmacies will close and she’ll have to go further to find one.
“They have to realize we are human beings and we need that medication for our life,” she said.
Enforcement of the Pharmacy Benefit Reform Act won’t start until next year. A spokesperson said PBMs are already regulated and doesn’t see the need for more. NBC10 Responds will continue to investigate and check back with the state once the enforcement begins in 2026.
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