You hear me talk shit about billionaires a lot because nearly all of them deserve it. But there are a few that seem like decent people. One of them is Mark Cuban. He doesn't seem to be dedicated to sucking as much wealth out of our planet as possible. In fact he seems to want to make our lives easier. I'm talking about those of us who don't have much money or any money at all, not the dickheads trying to take more of that money.
I read about this a while ago, and I'm only now getting around to it. It's one of those ideas I had when I was out sick, and I'm still playing catch up on those, hence the lateness. But Cuban hit a point near and dear to my heart: medication prices. He singled out CVS in particular, asking them in an open letter why their pricing is obfuscated. A fair question since 52% of Americans get their meds from CVS, and I'm one of them. I'm angry that I *must* go to CVS, or my insurance won't cover my meds, so any time I see someone calling them out for something, I pay attention.
It's a topic John Oliver should do sometime. Or maybe he already has, I don't know, but this is right up his alley. Because nearly all pharmacies use middlemen to broker deals for medications.
Right off the bat you should be suspicious. Whenever a middleman is added to any economic equation, you are going to spend MORE money, not LESS. Every time you add another cook to the kitchen, you must pay that extra cook. Even if the middlemen were nonprofits, I'd still suspect them of graft. All it takes is one unscrupulous executive, and suddenly millions of dollars are disappearing into their pockets, and no one is the wiser. Why would they be? No one knows about the middlemen, anyway.
CVS decided not to make their process transparent, so Cuban did what any reasonable billionaire would do: he started his own pharmacy.
He's not entirely altruistic. I get that. He's got to make some money, too, and he's doing that by becoming his own middleman, as according to the website they have a "pharmacy partner." The difference is, he's not price gouging while the others are. Or at least he's gouging in such a way that it's barely noticeable. If you're going to gouge, that's the way to do it. Make it painless if possible.
I looked up my own medications, and they're pretty cheap. I wish I could use his pharmacy, but my insurance requires me to use CVS. My regular meds are free through CVS, so that's not bad (especially when it comes to insulin), but if I get something off the beaten path I have to pay for it. For example, the painkillers I'm on right now. And everything the GI doc added to my daily regimen. I'd love to get any break I can on that, and I'd love to see a large corporation like CVS suffering.
Just about every fucking industry uses middlemen, and it's driving the prices of everything up. The middlemen for CVS, CVS Caremark, claim they do this to negotiate prices on behalf of the consumer, but that is clearly bullshit. No middleman has ever existed to make life easier for consumers. They all exist to suck more money out of you than Mega Maid sucking air out of Druidia in Spaceballs.
If you take a lot of medications like I do, you might want to check this out. It could save you money.
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