Kmart to pay $32.3m to settle drugs case

Washington: Kmart has agreed to pay $32.3 million to settle allegations its pharmacies caused federal health programmes to overpay for prescription drugs by not telling the government about discounted prices.

The US Department of Justice announced the settlement agreement on Friday.

Kmart is part of Illinois-based Sears Holdings. It was sued in 2008 by former Kmart pharmacist James Garbe, who worked in Defiance, Ohio.

The whistleblower lawsuit alleged Kmart offered discounted prices to customers who paid in cash through club programmes, but didn’t report those discounts to federal health programmes such as Medicare Part D and Medicaid.