Young's Pharmacy and General Store, LLC

03/21/2026

We will be closing early at 2:30pm as we will be cheering on the Bethlehem Lady Eagles and number 30 at Hudson Valley Community College for the Class AA State Girls Basketball Semifinals.

We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.

We’ll be back to our regular hours Monday March 23.

02/25/2026

Happens on the daily. This steering by insurance company makes it unfair because at most points, they would pay themselves more compared to the brick and mortar pharmacies who do not own their own insurance companies.

Today one of my technicians spent several hours making phone calls between an insurance company, doctor's office, home health agency, and mail order pharmacy trying to figure out where one of our patient's medications had been filled. We had tried to fill the medication here, but the insurance sent us a rejection back saying it had been filled somewhere else recently, so we couldn't fill it.

To make a long story short, we finally discovered that this patient had been signed up to get his prescriptions through the mail by his home health agency and that is who had in fact filled his medication. He didn't really understand what he was signing up for when this service was recommended, so he was very confused and upset when we initially told him that a different pharmacy had filled his medications.

See, we deliver to this patient almost every week. He is an elderly Vietnam veteran who lives alone and counts on our pharmacy to hand deliver his medications when they are needed. He has no means of transportation and a limited understanding of his medication regimen. He trusts us and, truly, I think he just enjoys the company when he gets to visit with our delivery driver and when he talks to us on the phone. So we had a pretty good hunch that going to a mail-order pharmacy either wasn't his idea or he just didn't understand what he was signing up for when we figured all of this out today.

After those many phone calls and time spent, we were finally able to process his prescription and get it delivered to him. I was so thankful to my technician who spent the time today to do this, and I know this patient was thankful, too. All of that work for a happy ending, right?

While yes, it was wonderful that we could get this figured out for him and get him his medication, the sad part is what came when I looked at what his insurance reimbursed our pharmacy for filling this medication -- $0.45.

Forty-five cents.

Hours spent, medication purchased, materials used, delivery made, worries calmed. And I have $0.45 to show for it.

THIS is why independent pharmacies feel like they are constantly stuck between a rock and hard place. On one hand, we have the duty to our patients to provide them with the best care possible. On the other hand, we have to think about if going the extra mile and doing our job is actually profitable. It shouldn't have to be one or the other. But in today's independent pharmacy world, it is.

THIS is why independent pharmacists and pharmacy owners can't sleep at night. Because the burden of these decisions is often too much for one to carry, especially when you feel like no one is listening and no one is helping.

THIS is the reality for community pharmacies across the country in 2026. And we are just hanging on and praying for the help we need so that we can do our jobs and take care of the people who trust us with their care. 💙

02/23/2026

We will be opening at 10:00am this morning due to the weather.

01/26/2026

Young’s Pharmacy & General Store will have shortened hours today due to the inclement weather.
11am to 4pm

09/26/2025

It says a lot when a military family chooses to pay out of pocket for medications for their sick child because being able to use their local independent pharmacy is worth more than the headache of dealing with the one chain pharmacy in town who does accept TRICARE.

My pharmacy made the tough decision several years ago to no longer contract with Tricare. With every prescription we filled, we were reimbursed less than the cost of the medication, resulting in thousands of dollars of underwater payments that we would never get back. Because I love my country and because I am personally so thankful for the sacrifices our service men and women make on a daily basis for our safety and freedom, I did my best to absorb these losses the best I could. But eventually, absorbing that loss just didn't make sense anymore.

While most of my military customers understood why we made that decision, we had some that were frustrated and hurt. And I got it. These people should be at the top of our list of WHO deserves quality care, and here we were, kicking them off the list all together. It was a tough place to be in for a pharmacy and a business, and it put our military customers in an even tougher place of trying to find a pharmacy in town to fill their medications. It was a lose/lose situation for us all.

What's even more frustrating about all of this, is that all while we were being paid less and less by Express Scripts (the PBM for TRICARE), they were paying THEMSELVES more and more, like 46 TIMES MORE. All at the cost of our military families, taxpayers, and unaffiliated pharmacies like mine. Where is the accountability? Where is the fairness? Why should a PBM be able to own a pharmacy AND pay that pharmacy more than any other pharmacy that has agreed to the same contract terms? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.

If you are a veteran or active-duty military patient and your access to care has been affected by Tricare, I encourage you to visit https://www.audittricare.org/ and sign the petition to ask Congress to audit Tricare and to share your experience.

Our military deserves more. Our heroes deserve the truth.

09/01/2025

“If we don’t act now, we’ll lose one of the most efficient, cost-effective access points in the U.S. health care system,” writes Walgreens’ chief pharmacy officer.

08/19/2025

🚨 We’re Hiring – Pharmacy Technician/ Pharmacy Help🚨

Young's Pharmacy & General Store is looking for a friendly, detail-oriented Pharmacy Technician/Pharmacy help to join our team! Willing to train! We have developed some really great employees over the years.

✅ Help fill prescriptions & serve patients
✅ Assist with insurance & inventory
✅ Help with the register
✅ Most important: Continue to provide excellent customer service to our patients/patrons

📍 Location: Averill Park, New York
🕒 Full-time/Part-time available
💊 Certification preferred but not required

Come be part of a family that cares about our community! ❤️

Cartoon by Jahraus

06/26/2025

This is very real. As we see pharmacies closing nationwide, the bleeding needs to stop. We have seen indies and chain pharmacies closing at an alarming rate. Not many answers to help extend lifelines to pharmacies but this was a good one. It was meant to set a floor on reimbursements.

There are changes being made in other states with reform but PBMs are citing increases in insurance spending if allowed discouraging our NYS elected officials. This is a false narrative being presented while they record staggering profits annually.

Our reimbursement have not reflected with the change in inflation. Daily losses of brand name medications on average of $15 to $200 does not equate to sustainability. Filling generic medication at a penny per pill does not help make that difference but these are the take it or leave it contracts PBMs give out to participate in their network.

A final statistic from last year. An average of 10 pharmacies closed per day. That included independent as well as chains.

Fortunately most of our elected officials here in upstate understand the urgency but we need help from the officials downstate. Here in upstate, pharmacies are drying up. Maybe not the case in the city, but it’s definitely happening.

01/20/2025

We will be opening at 10am this morning due to the inclement weather. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Send a message to learn more

12/19/2024

Come on in now and try some of the new beverages we have in stock until 6pm with crisafullidistributing.

Now available for tasting

Mountain King from Windham, NY
Magic Bear
Blonde

Velvet Llama
Moscow Mule
Espresso. Martini

12/19/2024

Before this, we were unable to speak about reimbursements and had to tell patients half truth with prescription is unavailable through our wholesalers. Half true meant that we can not purchase the medicine at an acquisition cost that is below our total reimbursement. Most medications we fill have a negative reimbursement.

Most of pharmacies across the nations are facing these low reimbursements causing a problem in public health. Shrinking access to healthcare because pharmacies are closing or lack of staff. Indies and chains are fighting the same battle.

This article offers what patients can do to keep brick and mortar pharmacies opened.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 30, 2024New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes released the following statement today in response to Governor Kathy Hochul’s signing of S9040, which loosens Pharmacy Benefit Managers’ (PBMs) chokehold on medical costs by eliminating the “gag clause” that pre...