(The Center Square) − Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Monday that the state has filed three lawsuits against CVS Health Corp. and its affiliated entities, alleging deceptive and anticompetitive practices that harmed patients, manipulated drug pricing and endangered independent pharmacies.
“They override doctors, block drugs, deny care and delay treatment, all while pretending they’re doing it to manage your benefits,” Gov. Jeff Landry said. “Their goal is not to cut costs for patients — it’s to inflate profits for shareholders.”
The lawsuits seek injunctive relief and financial restitution and accuse the pharmacy giant of violating Louisiana’s Unfair Trade Practices Act and state antitrust laws.
“Restitution would be related to any kind of specific damages that we incur in investigation of the lawsuits and related to their practices,” Murrill said. “We’ve lost pharmacies around our state, and we’ve had to come in and surround those areas with additional services, sometimes that even costs us more money. So, whatever we can justify we’re going to seek.”
The first lawsuit targets a July 11 text message campaign by CVS that used prescription-related contact information to oppose a state bill — House Bill 358 — that would have limited the power of pharmacy benefit managers. The messages warned patients, including seniors and veterans, that they might lose access to medications or pay more if the bill passed.
Murrill and Landry both say the messages were deceptive and unethical.
“It is my belief that CVS did use customer information… to lobby for their own corporate interests and to scare people into lobbying on their behalf.” Murill said. “All of those things are deceptive, in my opinion, and certainly misleading.”
Landry added that his own wife received one of the messages on the same thread used to notify her about prescription refills.
The second suit focuses on what officials described as “vertical integration abuse.”
CVS, through its acquisition of Aetna and control over multiple levels of care — from insurance plans to clinics and pharmacies — has created what Murrill called a “rigged market.”
The complaint alleges CVS uses complex rebate systems and foreign group purchasing organizations to obscure the true cost of drugs while maximizing its own profits. This structure, the state argues, suppresses competition and drives up drug prices even when cheaper alternatives are available.
“These PBMs do not provide health care — they provide profit,” Landry said, comparing the situation to past federal crackdowns on vertically integrated oil companies that controlled the supply chain from well to pump. “We need to ban PBMs from owning pharmacies, just like Congress once banned oil companies from owning the pump.”
The third lawsuit accuses CVS of systematically squeezing Louisiana’s independent pharmacists through spread pricing, clawbacks and contract terms that threaten expulsion from the CVS network if small pharmacies don’t comply.
According to the state, more than 100 independent pharmacies in Louisiana have closed since 2022 due to what Murrill called “manipulative and unfair tactics.”
Murrill noted the lawsuits are part of a broader effort to rein in PBMs in Louisiana. Her office has also sued OptumRx and Express Scripts, the two other major PBMs. Together with Caremark, the three control roughly 80% of the national PBM market.
Landry backed the lawsuits and said he is considering calling a special legislative session to pass additional reforms, depending on whether existing law gives his administration enough authority to act alone.
The lawsuits coincide with the passage of House Bill 264, authored by Rep. Mike Echols, R-Monroe, which Landry is expected to sign. The bill adds transparency requirements for PBMs, prohibits spread pricing, bans patient steering, and increases the Attorney General’s enforcement powers.
CVS has denied that it used personal health information to send political messages and claims the messages were part of a broader public information campaign. The company has not yet publicly responded to the lawsuits.
