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DrugBenefit Home Page Sometimes It’s Not So Nice To Be Right Tom Curb, R.Ph.
(Three years ago, when the administration was first pushing a Medicare Discount Card, I made some predictions, all of which I am sorry to report, proved valid. First, I wrote that "To subsidize {Medicare} rebates, prescription prices will increase for all consumers." Second, I wrote that "…the overwhelming majority of mail-order pharmacy profits come from charging excessive prices on generics…and the administration’s PBM-designed benefit was intentionally structured to deceive Medicare recipients on generics’ pricing." Third, I wrote that "…it is obvious that this {Medicare} program is specifically designed to move prescription dollars of more than 40 million Americans from the retail sector into the coffers of PBMs {by enabling} chosen ones to strong-arm local pharmacies into performing initial and emergency prescription fills and…then luring the patients into {the PBM’s} mail-order operations.") With respect to brand-name drug price increases, the media now reports*… "…Prices for name-brand medicines most commonly prescribed for seniors have risen at least three times faster than inflation in the last four years…multiyear price increases outstrip the discounts that will be available to seniors…with a new Medicare discount card. Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, said, ‘… the value of the discount cards has been significantly eroded by the price hikes.’ Critics contend that U.S. prices finance the companies' advertising, lobbying and political contributions and make drug manufacturing one of the nation's most profitable industries. Although prices for almost all the top-selling drugs rose much faster than inflation – some more than five times as much - steep price increases appear to be continuing this year. Because Social Security benefits are tied to the consumer price index, many seniors' incomes were eroded by the cost of medicines." Responding to drug price complaints, William Pierce, spokesman for Medicare card-advocate Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, retorted, "The prices of everything have gone up beyond the rate of inflation." (Gosh, dumb ol’ me – I always thought that the increasing prices of "everything" was what established the rate of inflation! More "voo-doo" economics?) And, then there are reports about Medicare Cards’ over-priced generics showing how the mail-order PBMs manipulate drug prices to entice enrollees from local pharmacies to the PBM’s mail operations… "…according to the Medicare.gov Web site, seniors using Walgreens’ Medicare card could pay as much as $84.15 for three 30-day supplies (a 90-day supply) of generic Prozac (flouxetine) at (non-Walgreens) pharmacies while (Walgreens’ card) charges $24.66 at its own (Walgreens) retail or mail-order pharmacies; Aetna's price at local pharmacies is $65.25. Other Medicare PBM’s mail-order prices for flouxetine are: Medco’s - $41.38; Caremark's - $25.72; and AARP’s - $34.32." (My card, which isn’t Medicare-promoted, allows local retailers $9.34 for a 90-day supply of this same drug.) In addition, "Medco's mail-order charges seniors $44.78 for a 90-day supply of lisinopril, the fifth-largest selling generic drug. Walgreen's mail-order price is $37.90; and AARP’s is $30." (My card, which isn’t Medicare-promoted, allows local retailers $10.24 for a 90-day supply of this same drug.) Making the Medicare card fiasco even fishier, AARP – a self-anointed "senior advocate" that endorsed the Medicare plan – denies getting any "extra profit" (from its Medicare card’s excessive pricing). "AARP’s plan is run by UnitedHealth Group, which outsources the mail-order to Express Scripts, with that PBM picking up most of the mail-order profits on generic drugs for AARP Medicare-card holders." With public exposure of all these Medicare-approved discount card schemes, there is little wonder why Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) said, "…studies confirm that the Medicare drug discount card is a fraud, and benefits the insurance and drug companies, not the millions of seniors who need relief." *USA Today, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal – May 26, 2004 |
