My libertarian friends tend to believe the only kind of bigness that’s bad is big government. I’ve come to believe that all bigness is bad. Big companies are just as soul crushing and rights denying as big government.

Consider big insurance companies. This mega-bureaucracies have a tremendous amount of say in the type of health care an individual receive, under our current health system have become a necessary evil (Ron Paul isn’t a fan, either), operate entirely for the benefit of the heath insurance companies, and if as an individual, you don’t like it — well, tough. You’re stuck. There’s really no free market option to escape from their clutches.

One of the increasingly used limitations on consumer choice that big insurance implement is a requirement that all prescriptions are fill through mail order.

This robs consumers of options, prohibits a relationship with a pharmacist, doesn’t necessarily save consumers any money, delays prescriptions being filled and puts consumers at the mercy of some distant, minimally paid phone rep.

From a localist perspective, it puts local businesses, the corner drug store, at risk.

All of that to say, yes, New York should pass a law that gives consumers the option to get drug prescriptions filled at a local, independent pharmacy.