Big time middlemen merchants...
Such are the features of the growing epidemic of corporate crime, fraud and abuse - it goes on and on, known to thousands of people in the industry, but years go by before it is publically detected.
But now a veritable Niagara has been unleashed. As Steven Pearlstein writes in the Washington Post: "In truth, the drug industry now is built on a foundation of kickbacks masquerading as marketing expenses." He and others noted that last month Medco - the large pharmacy benefits manager, (PBM) that allegedly negotiates lower prices for health plans and their patients, settled charges that it received over $400 million from just one drug company (Merck) in just one year 2001 to favor drugs by that company even if they were more expensive or another drug was prescribed. For this bonanza, Medco settled for a mere $29 million with 20 states Attorneys General. Criminogenic behavior pays indeed. And what about all the other years?
Ralph "Get him outta here!" Nader/Common Dreams May.03.04
link KWSnet
