The Wall Street Journal today published (subscription required) the fourth in a series of articles on middlemen striking it rich in the health care marketplace.
This one is a gem. Excerpt: "For years, a little-known unit of publishing giant Hearst Corp. called First DataBank has played a powerful role in determining what Americans pay for prescription drugs. First DataBank doesn't buy or sell drugs -- it publishes lists of drug prices. Health plans and state Medicaid programs use those prices as a benchmark in determining what they pay pharmacies.
If the benchmark goes up, so do costs for these payers. That's what happened in 2002, when First DataBank suddenly made broad revisions to its key published list. The new prices had the effect of fattening the profits of pharmacies, out of the view of patients and companies who pay for the soaring cost of health care."
What we don't know about U.S. health care is killing us - or our personal bottom lines.
Posted by schwitz at October 6, 2006 08:55 AM | TrackBack