Today’s Alternative News Channel – Here Are “The Most Profitable Corporations You’ve Never Heard Of”
When I first started becoming aware of how sleazy, parasitic and corrupt the U.S. economy was, I only had expertise in one industry, financial services. Coming to grips with the blatant criminality of the TBTF Wall Street banks and their enablers at the Federal Reserve and throughout the federal government, I thought this was the main issue that needed to be confronted. What I’ve learned in the years since is pretty much every industry in America is corrupt to the core, more focused on sucking money away from helpless citizens via rent-seeking schemes versus actually producing a product and adding value. Unfortunately, the healthcare industry is no exception.
Today’s post zeros in on a particular slice of that industry. A group of companies known as Pharmacy Benefit Managers, or PBMs. Companies that seem to extract far more from the public than they give back. It’s a convoluted sector that is difficult to get your head around, which is why we should be thankful that David Dayen wrote an excellent piece on the topic recently. What follows are merely excerpts from his lengthy and highly informative piece, The Hidden Monopolies That Raise Drug Prices. I strongly suggest you read the entire thing.
Below are a few highlights from the piece published in The American Prospect:
Like any retail outlet, Frankil purchases inventory from a wholesale distributor and sells it to customers at a small markup. But unlike butchers or hardware store owners, pharmacists have no idea how much money they’ll make on a sale until the moment they sell it. That’s because the customer’s co-pay doesn’t cover the cost of the drug. Instead, a byzantine reimbursement process determines Frankil’s fee.
“I get a prescription, type in the data, click send, and I’m told I’m getting a dollar or two,” Frankil says. The system resembles the pull of a slot machine: Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. “Pharmacies sell prescriptions at significant losses,” he adds. “So what do I do? Fill the prescription and lose money, or don’t fill it and lose customers? These decisions happen every single day.”
Source:
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-29/mike-krieger-introduces-most-profitable-corporations-youve-never-heard
See our playlist for additional information:
POLITICS:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3vNhMt4w_SI_yFQvfelBTllKUpszHtGt
HEALTH NEWS:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3vNhMt4w_SKrC2qOLET6ydlt3Lvx29i_
TECH AND SCIENCE STUFF:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3vNhMt4w_SKhC5M0NKTePMwwwezcPFjL
Today’s Alternative News
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV6WBPEdQPZAVddWfmk1-Dg
junenela54
Post time: Jul-14-2017