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Medicare Part D
- The Donut Hole
- Down the Donut Hole Even Faster!
- Bait and Switch
- Seniors Paying the Tab
- What is Your Plan Paying
- Doctors, Pharmacies & Medicare
[click here]CEOs of Nation's Top Medicare Drug Providers Earn Millions in Salary While
Seniors and Taxpayers Pick Up the Tab
Thursday October 5, 2006, 10:30 am ET
Profits Rain Upon Pharmacy Benefit Managers, as Seniors Tread Water in Doughnut
Hole
Press Release Source: Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) offering
Medicare Part D plans continue to siphon money from seniors and sidestep the
gargantuan salaries their CEOs earn. The Association of Community Pharmacists
Congressional Network (ACP*CN) believes Congress and taxpayers need to examine
how these companies are adding costs to Medicare Part D for their own gain.
CEOs of the nation's largest PBMs, Medco Health Solutions Inc., Caremark Rx
Inc., and Express Scripts Inc., who also are large Medicare Part D providers,
rake in enormous salaries. According to the AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch, David
Snow, CEO of Medco earned $7,873,820 total compensation in 2005; Caremark CEO
Edwin Crawford banked $15,683,444 in total compensation that year; while Express
Scripts CEO George Paz pocketed a mere $3,967,750 in compensation for 2005.
"These bloated salaries prove PBMs do not lower drug costs but add millions of dollars to public and private drug expense with the goal of enriching themselves and their shareholders at the beneficiaries' expense," remarked Mike James, Vice-President, Governmental Affairs, ACP*CN. "It is astonishing PBMs are allowed to apply their free-wheeling business practices to Medicare Part D completely unchecked by Congress, as seniors in the doughnut hole or no coverage period forage for dollars to buy prescriptions," added James.
CEO Edwin Crawford of Caremark Rx Inc., one of the country's largest Medicare D providers, earned $15,683,444 in compensation in 2005, which would hire 178 pharmacists. This is 178 times the average salary of a pharmacist, which according to Drug Topics was $89,723 in 2004. The value of his previous years' exercised and unexercised stock options alone would hire over 3,780 pharmacists.
Every day pharmacists ensure Medicare patients take their medication correctly and answer numerous patient questions about their Part D plans. Yet, pharmacists are being under-reimbursed for their services by PBMs. Often called middlemen, PBMs never interact with patients but decide how much to pay themselves, the government and pharmacists under the Medicare drug plan.
Recognizing the goal of PBMs is to make themselves rich, Independence Blue Cross Blue Shield on October 2, 2006 dumped its pharmacy benefit manager Caremark and started its own drug benefit FutureScripts. The company expects to reduce drug costs by $100 million over five years.
Many seniors are now entering Medicare's "no coverage" period and are struggling to pay 100% drug costs plus their monthly premiums until they are once again covered under their plan. Conversely, it is during this black hole in coverage that PBMs are making 100% profit. Under Medicare Part D, PBMs continue to flourish and their CEOs rank among the nation's wealthiest wage earners.
About the Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network (ACP*CN)
Founded in 2002 and based in Raleigh, NC, the Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network consists of 15,000 independent pharmacists nationwide dedicated to serving the communities in which they live. ACP*CN is dedicated to the survival and growth of the independent pharmacy owner, who often times is the only pharmacy operating in rural towns across America, where access to pharmacies is extremely limited. Our network of pharmacists do more than just fill prescriptions, they counsel patients on medication use and many times act as the front line healthcare provider for individuals and families who can't afford or don't have direct access to a doctor.
Contact: Crystal Wright
Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network
202/820-0848