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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Cole Schmidtknecht’s parents say the 22-year-old went without his asthma inhaler after its cost rose sharply, then died days later following a severe asthma attack. They sued OptumRx and Walgreens, alleging that a change in prescription coverage left him unable to afford the medicine. Those claims have not been established in court, and OptumRx disputes them.
What Cole Schmidtknecht’s parents allege
Shanon and William Schmidtknecht filed a federal lawsuit over their son’s death, according to WMTV’s January 27, 2025 report. The parents say the cost of his asthma inhaler rose from about $65 to more than $500. Cole chose to pay rent rather than buy the medicine, they say, and died days later after a severe asthma attack and cardiac arrest. His father described the decision this way: “Chose rent over his medicine.”
Futurism’s February 1, 2025 report gives the more precise figures in the headline: $66 before the change and $539 afterward. WMTV rounded the amounts differently, reporting $65 and more than $500; the available coverage does not explain the discrepancy.
The lawsuit reportedly alleges that OptumRx changed coverage for the coming year, stopped covering Advair Diskus or a generic alternative, and covered two newer options instead. It also alleges OptumRx failed to give the required 30-days notice of the cost increase. These are claims made by the family, not court findings. The reporting does not independently establish why coverage changed or prove that the change caused Cole’s death.
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How OptumRx and Walgreens responded
WMTV reported that an OptumRx spokesperson called Cole’s death tragic, expressed sympathy for his family, and said: “The claims made are factually inaccurate.” Walgreens declined to comment, citing pending litigation, according to the station.
The family’s lawyer, Michael Trunk, told WMTV: “Our hope is that this lawsuit and Cole’s death will lead them to kind of introspect on their own policies and change their policies going forward.”
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Why pharmacy benefit managers matter to prescription costs
OptumRx is a pharmacy benefit manager, or PBM—a company that helps administer prescription-drug benefits, including decisions about which medicines a plan covers. PBMs operate within a complex system involving health plans, drug manufacturers and pharmacies. The Federal Trade Commission’s July 2024 interim staff report described the scale of that role: the top three PBMs processed nearly 80% of roughly 6.6 billion prescriptions dispensed by U.S. pharmacies in 2023; the top six processed more than 90%.
That FTC figure is broad market context from an ongoing study. It does not establish what happened in the Schmidtknecht family’s case, whether the alleged coverage change was appropriate, or whether any particular company caused Cole’s death.
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What is known—and what remains unresolved
The cited reports describe the parents’ allegations, OptumRx’s denial and Walgreens’ decision not to comment. They do not establish a court’s findings or the lawsuit’s current procedural status or outcome. The available information therefore supports describing this as a family’s account and a disputed lawsuit, not as a proven finding that a price change caused a death.
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