Carpenters Union Accuses Kroger of Charging Inflated Drug Prices

The Kroger Co. is overcharging health insurance plans for prescription drugs by excluding cash-pay prices from its reports, according to a class action filed by the Central Midwest Regional Council of Carpenters Welfare Fund.

The United Brotherhood of Carpenters affiliate alleged Kroger’s pharmacy has omitted prices in its cash-pay Kroger’s Health Savings Club from its calculation of “usual and customary” rates in legally mandated forms.

“Kroger’s actions caused Plaintiff to pay tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars more than it otherwise would have,” the union said in its complaint filed Thursday in the US District Court for the ...