I can’t count the number of times that someone with the community has says… “no one understands what I am going thru”
Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone understood “living with chronic pain” and the impact that the insurance/PBM industries have on getting proper treatment. Because of the McCarran Ferguson Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarran%E2%80%93Ferguson_Act the insurance/PBM industry is exempt from Sherman Antitrust. While that law had a valid reason when it was passed in the 1940’s, that reason no longer exists …BUT… it is still a law on the books and numerous have tried to get it repealed since the late 80’s, without any luck. Mostly because the insurance/PBM industry has one of the largest pots of money to using for lobbying Congress.
The insurance/PBM industry has expanded the use of this law way past its original intent. They can collude, fix prices and do other things that is ILLEGAL in the normal business world. They directly/indirectly affect what your medications can cost you, if the particular medication that your prescriber wants you to have is even paid for or will only pay for a “similar” medication that the insurance/PBM industry will make more profits on.
One of the largest insurance/PBM companies is CVS Health, they own abt 10,000 community pharmacies, specialty pharmacies, mail order pharmacy, and the largest Nursing Home Pharmacy (Omnicare) PBM Caremark, Aetna Insurance, Silver Scripts Part D insurance.
This one entity can dictate how much – or how little – their retail competitors gets paid for the prescriptions they fill for their own pts. They can dictate that pts end up paying higher co-pays if the pts don’t want to patronize one of CVS’ own pharmacies. Those in the insurance/PBM industry can mandate that you can only fill meds at one of their mail order pharmacies.
When I read about another independent pharmacy closing their doors because the insurance/PBM industry has made it unprofitable to stay in business, many stating that the insurance/PBM were – on average – paying them 25% less than the cost of buying the medication(s) from the wholesaler… and… guess who ends up buying the closing pharmacy pt records/files ? Typically CVS – but not always… just most of the time.
NOW THE NEW FOCUS… how many of you and other have been in Face Book jail ?… The BIG TECH – silicon valley have a similar law to protect them from being sued from what is posted on their various web venues — it is called section 230. Magazine and Newspapers are not protected by the section. Our First Amendment freedom of speech only applies to the government limiting free speech.
IF you haven’t been paying attention those big techs of silicon valley Face Book, Twitter, Google, Amazon, Instagram and others have been playing games… during the election period they put a lot of people in web jail. Many “talking heads” on TV have reported that they have loss tens of thousands of followers. Less than a year ago a new competitor to Twitter www.parlar.com came on line and promised a uncensored community … After the crap at the capital last week, all of these tech companies decided to permanently SILENCE PRESIDENT TRUMP… no only closed his twitter account, they shut down some of the companies that the Trump organization has websites that sold products was shut down. President Trump opened an account on PARLAR.. So the “boys” of silicone valley decided that they didn’t want Parlar to provide a web outlet to Trump.. Apple and Android took the Parlar app off of their app website a couple of days latter Amazon – where Parlar rented space on their “cloud” (Amazon Web Services) notified that within 24 hrs … they were pulling the plug on the Parlar website/domain. There is a whole litany of other companies that followed suit and withdrew their services from Parlar. This company is estimated to be worth ONE BILLION DOLLARS… yet this TECH BULLIES were able to just pull the plug because they did not agree with Trump’s politics… and their actions are protected by section 230.
Does this sound a lot like what the insurance/PBM industry is doing to the community? There are a lot of people out there feeling a similar pain that the community has been feeling – from being controlled by people/entities that you have no/little chance of changing.
A new Congressional session starts in another week or so… and there are a lot of people in their country that are very upset and Section 230 is part of that anger… If the Congress can find the cajones to repeal section 230, they might be able to convince them to also repeal the McCarran Ferguson Act…. to put the insurance/PBM industry out of the “collusion game” ?
Filed under: General Problems
No Surprise. Something, Somehow, Has Got To Break This Bombardment Of Unethical, Illegal, And Carcinogenic Attacks On All Of Our “Rights”. It’s Been About 11 Years Or More Of Barely Existing In This Torturous Prison Of An Existence. Only One Doctor Admitted Online Something That No One Else Has Mentioned. The FACT That All Of The Medications That Many Chronically Ill People Are On Are NOT STANDARDIZED, (even some front line working People). If One Has Multiple Chronic Conditions And Finally Received The Treatment That Made Me Healthier ; W/O Warning, Notice, And Informed Consent Was Abruptly ‘Disappeared’ And Changes Every Month, Keeping Many Of Us In Constant Destablization, Yet, Our Congress Gets To Write Themselves And Families Out From This Covert Act, How Can Anyone Of Us Trust The V…..e, not to mention the censorship of Anything That Stands To Influence, Or Find Another. We Do Not Live-Exist In A Democracy, And We Obviously HavnHav Any Rights. I Refuse To Buy The Lies And The Only Way Out May Be Secession Of Each State Electing They’re Own Leaders.