A new report from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission shows that more than half a million people in the state live without easy access to a pharmacy. That may soon get worse if a pharmacy in Boston closes. 

Kornfield Pharmacy is a family business that's been serving residents of Roxbury for decades. 

"My father bought this place from the previous owners about 30 years ago," said owner Uche Egesionu. "He was running it up until 2011 when he was murdered on a trip abroad." 

"I've now stopped working as an engineer to come back because I didn't want it to close," Egesionu said. The pharmacy is barely keeping afloat. 

"People walk in the store and they're wondering why some of the shelves are bare. I mean, some of the things that we have to work with is that these are all purchased by my family, it's not purchased by the store right now," Egesionu said. "I can't hire staff right now, I don't even have enough to even pay myself. I'm on EBT as well."

Prescription reimbursement problem

A big part of the problem, according to Egesionu, is that the prescriptions they fill don't get much, if any, reimbursement from insurance companies.

"Ozempic, we have to pay $977.63, of which we only get reimbursed $952.99," Egesionu said. 

The Health Policy Commission's report shows the number of pharmacies in the state are down 17% since 2019, from 1,134 to 940 now. 

"If I'm not turning a profit by December, I can't do this," Egesionu said. "This whole area will be a pharmacy desert."

It's a sad truth for longtime customer Stephanie Thomas. 

"Losing this place to me is like taking away our home," Thomas said. "The closest CVS that they have is downtown."

"There's going to be larger ramifications going down the road if we don't fix this now and I don't want to sweep it under the rug either," Egesionu said.