The Details:
The US Government is beginning to tackle the need for PBM's to be more transparent in their negotiations, sales and rebates. The PBM's claim this transparency would not allow them to get special discounts to pass savings on to their customers. (More info.)
My Feelings:
Normally I don't like using expletives, but this is one of the biggest lines of (insert your choice of a colorful metaphor here) I have ever heard. Basic rules of supply and demand indicate that initially when the consumer does not know roughly where the intersection of the two curves are, the consumer usually overpays. The seller can undersell too, but let's be honest here, if you run a business which is driven by stock market pressures to increase stock price, you are going to do your own studies to know where the intersection could lie. Thus they can claim to give the "best price" but nobody can prove it. And if you cannot prove it, given stock market pressures, you're going to try to get as much money as possible, whatever the means. How quickly will people do something against the law if they know they will not get caught? Same principle.
Also, thinking who the biggest consumer is, the government, it means more tax dollars of ours being spent on a non-transparent system.
Aggravating.
