"You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time." – Old huckster’s adage.

In early January, the national media loudly trumpeted that "(Drug) companies plan price cuts for 275 prescription drugs, and that…ten major pharmaceutical companies…were joining in a new program to cut 25 to 40 percent from their prices of prescription drugs sold to (qualifying) uninsured people of modest means (and) younger than 65." This "Together-Rx Program" was described as the latest effort by drug makers to meet demand for their products while dispelling public anger about the prices. Industry officials said that, "If the cards worked as intended, they could reduce the public clamor for legislation to allow the import of low-cost drugs from Canada and elsewhere." The cartel’s card program sponsors estimated that 36 million uninsured would be eligible, but complained that, "Experience with (their) other discount cards, including those…for Medicare beneficiaries, suggests that the number signing up will be much lower".*

Although the U.S. government has "no role" in this program, the announcement was hailed by Tommy Thompson, secretary of HHS, who joined the industry in announcing the initiative. "I'm sure there are some cynics out there who will say that this is not enough," Thompson said, "But it's an exciting opportunity to provide more people with access to prescription medicines."

Although all the "congratulatory" credits have been given to drug cartel members, much of the purported savings would be at the expense of retail pharmacies. Actually the 10 drug makers will provide a subsidy of only 15 percent off the list price on their brand-name drugs. If drugstores want to participate, they must agree to limits on what they will charge for various drugs; therefore, a person may be charged different prices for the same prescription at different stores.

Perhaps the least deceptive statement in the cartel’s announcement was that of J. Patrick Kelly, a vice president of Pfizer, who admitted, "(Pfizer’s) existing (discount) card has not had a material impact on the company's earnings," and that, "We do not expect the Together Rx Access card to have an adverse effect on earnings either." The reason is obvious: Because of the industry’s obscene margins, any Together-Rx initiated sales – even discounted – will generate extra profits.

And high profits at that - Over one-third of the brands on the Together-Rx "discount" list are also available as generics, and in comparison to the "25 to 40% discounts" offered by the Together-Rx companies for those brands, DBC and affiliated card programs offer discounts on those equivalent generics averaging 70% - with some as much as 98%. Of the other "listed" brands, 65% do not even appear in the "top 200 most prescribed brands" for SPC plans, and only 14 of the listed products (5%) appear in the SPC plans’ "top 40 most prescribed brands". Basically, what these "benevolent" cartel members have done is offer the "uninsured poor" an opportunity to pay too much for older brand-name drugs that have been displaced by cheaper generics; they went to their "trash pile" of drugs they can’t sell to lengthen the "discounted drugs" list; and while offering minimal discounts on a few higher-profile drugs, to prevent "any earnings impact", reduced discounts on some drugs in other programs. What great guys!