FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS: Timothy Rusch: (917) 399-0236, tim@fitzgibbonmedia.com
Rachel Tardiff: (202) 746-1407, rachel@fitzgibbonmedia.com
Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions, two of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers until the Federal Trade Commission approved their merger in April, have ended their relationship with the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Express Scripts/Medco (publicly traded as Express Scripts Holding Company [ESRX]) is now the industry’s biggest company. Pharmacy benefit managers like Express Scripts/Medco manage prescription drug plans for employers and insurers, serving as middlemen between pharmaceutical corporations and payers. ColorOfChange previously broke the news that Express Scripts/Medco’s next-largest competitor, CVS Caremark, terminated its relationship with ALEC on July 10.
Today, the Center for Media and Democracy first reported that Express Scripts’ Director of Public Affairs, David Whitrap, had informed CMD that the company had dropped its ALEC membership. In a subsequent email to ColorOfChange, Whitrap wrote, “I can confirm that Express Scripts is no longer a member of ALEC, and neither is Medco.”
The following is a statement from ColorOfChange.org Executive Director Rashad Robinson:
“Express Scripts and Medco’s announcement today that it will cut ties with ALEC is further proof that everyday people working together to hold corporations accountable can achieve tremendous change. The ColorOfChange community applauds Express Scripts and Medco’s willingness to end its relationship with this right-wing policy group that has worked to suppress the Black vote.”
Express Scripts/Medco is the 26th corporation to announce it has dropped ALEC. The company joins CVS Caremark, Best Buy, MillerCoors, John Deere, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Wal-Mart, Amazon, Procter & Gamble, Yum! Brands, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Mars Inc., Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, Intuit, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Reed Elsevier (owner of LexisNexis and publisher of science and health information), Kaplan, Scantron, Medtronic, American Traffic Solutions and Arizona Public Service
“ColorOfChange commends those corporations that have done the right thing and withdrawn their funding from ALEC, which continues to defend its push to enact discriminatory voter ID laws across the nation. More and more companies are getting the message that they cannot in good conscience market products to our communities while handing over customers’ dollars to an organization that suppresses the rights and endangers the safety of people of color.”
ColorOfChange members signed a petition targeting ALEC’s corporate partners for their role in suppressing Black votes. The petition can be found here: https://colorofchange.org/campaign/alec/
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With more than 800,000 members, ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest Black online civil rights organization.
The Center for Media and Democracy launched ALECexposed.org last summer to highlight the corporations and politicians that vote on ALEC “model” bills, and documented ALEC’s role in pushing controversial Stand Your Ground and discriminatory voter ID laws.