re: UnitedHealth subsidiary sues Mississippi Board of Pharmacy

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Everytime I go to CVS to pickup a prescription for my son I get pissed off. I told my wife she’s either going or the prescriptions are getting filled at our neighborhood pharmacy.

Cannot stand that place.

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Why don't you just go to the neighborhood pharmacy instead of complaining?

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Ultimately it doesn’t matter when the congressmen are on the take , they’ll kill any pbm reform despite the shouting from Indy owners as it would directly help them. They don’t care. It’s such a shame.

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A friend of mine wrote to several legislators. This was one of their replies:


    I am sitting down answering emails and yours popped up. I have voted to get rid of PBM’s for years! The problem is that PBM’s rush in with big money to pay off legislators that have the influence to kill the legislation. All legislators understand what’s going on please don’t kid yourself by thinking they don’t.  At this point your message is long an old news. It should be to shame the legislators that take money and kill the bill. Point out that they don’t care about their constituents getting their medicine they need to live nor their local pharmacies staying in business.  They just care about themselves. Don’t go backward and look and blame go forward and say if you kill the bill we will make sure everyone knows who did it. Sorry to be so blunt but people need to understand that all legislators know exactly what is going on it has been a hot topic for years. Locals should put pressure on their senate and house members and let them know they are watching and will report to their constituent's how they voted.  Put it in the papers, radios, mail them letters that you will make their name public if they vote against it or kill the bill in committee or don’t bring it out for a vote. Facebook is free and your friend. Everyone reads it. Make sure all of our constituents know that the bill is coming up for a vote and they will fight to make it happen.  The one thing most important to a legislator is they win their next election. They continue to get away with killing the bill because nobody pays attention or points out what happening. Constituents don’t understand because it is a hard subject to explain. But they will understand they could get medicine much lower if their legislator cared. That is your message. Going on supertalk blah blah blah is great but your locals have no idea what is going on and that is where the rubber is going to meet the road. If someone goes on a radio their message should be simple you will get cheaper medicine. Y’all have had the same message for years and it is not working. But people will get it. Keep it simple but you need to hit it hard not beg legislators to do the right thing. Ok I need to quit because I am saying a lot and I don’t know you!! Just telling the truth. The last thing I will say is get the bill you want if you do this it will pass. Representative Stacy Wilkes is writing the bill and wants to get it done. She has also fought for it for years so you have good people. It will pass if put before the legislature for a vote.  We have tried to get it done for years. Don’t waste another year! Time is running out. It’s a short session. 

A friend of mine in south Mississippi owns a small pharmacy, He is also on the Board Of Pharmacology in Mississippi. There are only 5 members on the board. Anyway, he has said for awhile it's only a matter of time before big pharma shuts him, and others like him, down. They are repeatedly challenged over "ethics of commerce" by the establishment. Damn shame.

The Big Pharma trade group has a 340B suit going against Louisiana right now.

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PBMs put gag clauses in their contracts that prevent pharmacies (mainly independents) from releasing this information.

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This sounds like jobs telling people that they can't talk about their salaries because then they would know they have been getting screwed or the other employees will figure they are getting screwed.

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My local pharmacy sees me walking in and starts ringing me up before I get to the counter. Sometimes they offer to drive it to my house.

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That sounds a little inconvenient when you are standing right there

Wonderful news as our company just switched to United healthcare.

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Most consumers don’t even realize what a pbm is or does, but they certainly don’t have your best interest in mind or lower medication costs as they claim they do.

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And yet you won't state what PBM stands for. Pharmacy Benefit Manager.

After reading on them a bit, it's not hard to see how they can manipulate prices and screw over mom and pop pharmacies.

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And yet you won't state what PBM stands for.

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Read my original post, starting at the third word.


Here is an example of a claim from United health earlier today. I was paid $65 below cost. My acquisition cost is $1,113 and I was paid $1,047.25 for a net of -$65.