XPost: wi.general, alt.business.insurance, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: sac.politics, alt.society.liberalism   
   From: democrat-insurrection@mail.house.gov   
      
   https://nypost.com/2025/02/05/us-news/wisconsin-man-cole-schmidtknecht-   
   dead-from-asthma-attack-after-price-on-inhaler-skyrockets-from-66-to-over-   
   500-family/   
      
   A 22-year-old Wisconsin man died from an asthma attack after the price of   
   his inhaler skyrocketed to over $500 and he was forced to choose to pay   
   for rent over the “life-sustaining medicine,” his parents claim.   
      
   Cole Schmidtknecht’s family is demanding damages from Walgreens Pharmacy   
   and United Health Group’s OptumRx for their alleged actions leading to the   
   2024 death, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.   
      
   Schmidtknecht was diagnosed with chronic asthma as an infant but managed   
   his symptoms with a daily dose of a corticosteroid inhaler for over a   
   decade.   
      
   The Green Bay area truck center employee earned a “modest hourly wage” and   
   had a self-insured plan with his employer through United Health Group, the   
   lawsuit obtained by Law&Crime detailed.   
      
   His plan through OptumRx, a subsidiary of United Health Group, covered the   
   corticosteroid inhaler Advair Diskus.   
      
   Through the plan, Schmidtknecht paid roughly $35 to up to $66.86 during   
   the “deductible phase of the plan.”   
      
   Without insurance coverage, the lawsuit claims, the prescribed medication   
   would cost Schmidtknecht over $530.   
      
   In the fall of 2023, OptumRx allegedly changed the list of drugs it would   
   cover in 2024, with Advair Diskus being excluded from the covered   
   medication.   
      
   The pharmacy care business is accused of not relaying its formulary of   
   covered drugs to its customers, an alleged violation of Wisconsin law that   
   requires such businesses to notify patients at least 30 days before   
   coverage runs out.   
      
   The suit claims United Health Group is one of the three pharmacy benefit   
   managers (PBMs) in the country, overseeing more than 79 percent of the   
   fulfillment of drug prescriptions.   
      
   The Schmidtknechts accuse PBMs of artificially driving up health care   
   costs in several ways, including forcing customers to choose the more   
   expensive medication when there is a cheaper alternative on the market.   
      
   Schmidtknecht went to his local Walgreens connected with OptumRx to fill   
   his prescription on Jan. 10, 2024, and was told the medication was no   
   longer covered by his insurance.   
      
   The out-of-pocket cost for the inhaler was $539.19.   
      
   Schmidtknecht left the pharmacy without his medication.   
      
   The heartbroken parents claim Walgreens and its employees didn’t take the   
   necessary steps to help Schmidtknecht find medication for his asthma.   
      
   They also attacked OptumRx for taking the inhaler and its generic   
   counterpart off its formulary list knowing the patient would leave without   
   the “necessary asthma medication his physician prescribed.”   
      
   Schmidtknecht relied on his old “emergency” inhaler to help his symptoms   
   and began experiencing breathing difficulties over the five days after his   
   trip to Walgreens.   
      
   During that time, Schmidtknecht chose to pay his rent instead of buying   
   the medicine, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.   
      
   On Jan. 15, 2024, Schmidtknecht suffered a severe asthma attack and became   
   asphyxiated.   
      
   His roommate rushed him to the local emergency room in Appleton, Wis.   
      
   Schmidtknecht fell unresponsive and pulseless during the car ride.   
      
   Hospital staff gave him two doses of epinephrine and performed CPR for   
   four minutes.   
      
   He remained in a coma on a ventilator for six days until his parents were   
   told “he was beyond help,” the lawsuit states.   
      
   Schmidtknecht’s parents took him off life support and he was pronounced   
   dead on Jan. 21, 2024.   
      
   The family claims their son suffered damages of life, future earnings,   
   physical and mental pain and suffering, and humiliation.   
      
   They also say they are seeking damages relating to the funeral expenses   
   and that they lost society and companionship because of their son’s death.   
      
   Loss of society is a non-economic loss that loved ones can seek   
   compensation for in a lawsuit.   
      
   “Loss of society and companionship” can be filed by close family members   
   claiming that someone’s wrongful or negligent act took away the love,   
   care, affection, guidance and protection of the victim, according to S.   
   Burke Law.   
      
      
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