I’m going “out on the third rail again”… I have noticed our President telling the “rich” should pay their fair share – and the “rich” is undefined. Current target of his “bully pulpit ” is the oil industry – for making excessive profits – and WH press secretary stated in the last day or two… that the oil companies should make less profit -and it is patriotic to do so. He has made similar claims against the “beef industry”… same thing about the pharma industry… one industry I have not seen him use his “bully pulpit” toward is the health insurance/PBM industry – YES – PBM’s are licensed insurance companies. To show you how crooked these PBM’s are… I just got a Rx refilled and our Part D said that they would only pay for a product from a particular pharma and my copay would be $56.00 – because I am still meeting my deductible …BUT.. having the Pharmacist fill it for a generic – FOR CASH PRICE – my cost was $36.00. I guess the rebates/kickbacks/discount that the Part D extracts from the one pharma was much greater than the pharma who makes the generic. Months ago, I had a Rx for a 3% topical cm and the copay was $70.00 for ONE OUNCE tube and the pharmacy receipt showed that our Part D paid $-7.00 ..yep they charged me MORE THAN SOME ARBITRARY PRICE – again I was still in my deductible period.. I found out that a 5% – same topical cream OTC – and was able to get TWO – SIX OUNCE TUBES for $70…
This Administration wants Congress to pass a law to mandate that Medicare Part D & Medicare Advantage prgms to negotiate prices, but both of these are FOR PROFIT INSURANCE COMPANIES and all Rx claims are progressed by a PBM – who extract a discount, rebate, kickback from the pharmas – some have indicated that the total $$$ back to the pharma – can be up to 75% of AWP ( Average Wholesale Price) and most state that most of those $$$ goes into the PBM’s coffers and the major PBM’s are now owned by a insurance company. When the Medicare Part D was signed into law, went into effect Jan 1, 2006 …Congress prohibited Medicare to negotiate discounts and then turned the Part D program over to FOR PROFIT INSURANCE/PBM industry. Which was SMOKE & MIRRORS… since Part D was NEVER part of Medicare… the Rx medications for Medicare folks – has always been handled by FOR PROFIT insurance companies. I guess that it is just GOOD POLITICS – political theater – to point fingers at a industry who has little/no control over what they charge for a product. When MIDDLEMEN – demand kickback/refunds/discounts of up to 75% for a pharma to have meds on the PBM’s approved formulary and will only pay for their other meds by requiring a prior authorization.
Blue Cross Blue Shield operator did not pay federal taxes in 2018, got $1.7B refund
Health Care Service Corp., which operates Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in a handful of states, did not pay any federal taxes in 2018 and received a $1.7 billion tax refund, according to its latest financial report.
The tax refund boosted the health insurance conglomerate’s net profit to $4.1 billion last year, compared to $1.3 billion in 2017, according to Axios, which first reported about Health Care Service’s tax refund.
{mosads}Axios noted that Health Care Service was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the GOP tax cut and has experienced rising profits from its health plans in the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Health Care Service oversees Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
The company said it had benefited from the repeal of the corporate alternative minimum tax in 2018 after remaining credits were included.
“We historically paid the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and because of the repeal of the corporate AMT system (the 2017 Tax Reform and Jobs Act), companies that had remaining AMT credits were able to recover those credits,” said Health Care Service communications director Greg Thompson in an email.
Filed under: General Problems
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