30 Days of US Healthcare: Pharmacy Benefit Managers

Day 22

30 Days of US Healthcare

[DGlaucomflecken]

I’m reposting this one for a couple reasons. #1 I don’t think I can explain PBMs any better than this and #2 this sets up tomorrows video nicely.

[viciouschrisss]

The independent pharmacy I worked at just went out of business after 71 years, largely due to PBMs demanding mail order via OptumRx and Kaiser and DIR "fees" on required brand name drugs. I wish I could send this video to every patient who doesn't understand why we had to close our doors. We were losing as much as $800 on a single prescription.

[anastudent]

To anybody who is in a developed country that is not USA. This is not exaggeration. This is true "for profit" healthcare

[zzpyropuppyzz]

Ya know, Satan being the top of the US health Insurance crisis makes total sense

[__-fmqv]

As someone outside the US, wow this is insane... reminds me of just how politicians can also be bought or "lobbied" by large corporations to ensure future profits to the detriment of millions of regular people, also something that should be illegal but isn't somehow.

[jfxl]

I love this 30 Days of US Healthcare series. It very directly exposes the fact that our healthcare system is run by unethical, greedy monopolies. It's disgusting.

[joephysics]

In med school you really don't see any of this. When I ran an anesthesia group, I was exposed to how medical billing works, I sat on several hospital committees - including the pharmacy committee and medical executive committee, and I was in charge of selecting the health insurance plan for the group. Slowly you learn just how complicated / screwed up our system really is and you see how evil people sometimes end up in control of things.

[juanesbarreto]

"you don't get to make 200 billion with oversight" best sadly true quote to summarize what's wrong with profit driven society

[Ribberflavenous]

I cannot help but wonder how many UHC 'fixers' are developing plans to mitigate this troublesome doc. You have a talent for informing in a simplified way that even I can understand. This has to be creating a groundswell of anger and influence. I hope you are consulting with a good lawyer on how to create parody without liability. Remember that even John Oliver got SLAPPed, and YouTube loves the ad revenue from big pharma. I don't want to be the wet blanket, but this series is incredibly good and may generate attention from the Eye of Pharma.

[harnutvlad]

United Healthcare holding a pair of cutout horns: In my free time, I'm also Satan.

[Tanstin]

Well written, funny, and infuriating. But most importantly of all...Eye opening. This project in of itself is doing great wonders to help with American health literacy. Thank you for your work.

[Userext]

UHC has one last branch to conquer, pharmaceuticals themselves.
If you own the hospital, produce the medications, produce the equipment, insure the patient you control all stones like thanos and can jack up prices as you want

[Sadstudent-ojoc]

Thanks for noticing this before our congress did. Wish you had the power to do something about it.

[izcenine]

As a primary care provider thank you for keeping me sane. My colleagues and I need this humor to keep our spirits up as we try to navigate this hellscape of a system for our patients

[jimverbick]

I recall when ACA was being debated and a public option was being discussed, one of the things they brought up was how many health insurance jobs could be lost. I feel like health insurance has either gotten so much worse since then or people like the good doctor have educated us on things we were oblivious too. At this point, they should be lucky if we don't charge them criminally.

[johnsievila]

As a T1D I love when my ins switches covering Humalog to Novalog and I have to gert a new Rx for it because..of course they can't just have a blanket Rx for life saving meds

[Tactical_Turtwig]

Can an alternative name for this series be "The Medical Mafia"? I'm half expecting UHC to put a horse head in my bed and call it an "alternative therapy"....

[HBPharmacy]

Excellent explanation of PBMs and their corruption. Thanks for your advocation for our profession and all of healthcare, Dr. Glaucomflecken.

[eliyasasfaw]

The golden rule: “Those who have the gold, make the rules.”

[mostlyoptimistic]

“When you make enough money, you get to write the laws”!