{"id":2406502,"date":"2025-02-25T12:55:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T17:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/medicare-pays-34000-more-than-we-do-for-this-7-cancer-drug-pharmacy-owner\/"},"modified":"2025-02-25T13:02:43","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T18:02:43","slug":"medicare-pays-34000-more-than-we-do-for-this-7-cancer-drug-pharmacy-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/medicare-pays-34000-more-than-we-do-for-this-7-cancer-drug-pharmacy-owner\/","title":{"rendered":"Medicare Pays 34,000% More Than We Do for This $7 Cancer Drug: Pharmacy Owner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmedicare-pays-34000-more-than-we-do-for-this-7-cancer-drug-pharmacy-owner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2406502&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article highlights a significant \u2064pricing disparity for the cancer drug imatinib, known as Gleevec, pointed out by pharmacist Brad Hart from Forest Park Pharmacy.He noted that the pharmacy buys the drug for approximately $7 and sells it to \u2062customers for $17, while Medicare pays an exorbitant $2,400 for the same medication, revealing a\u2062 staggering 34,000% markup. Hart\u200c stated that if all 250,000 \u2062prescriptions were filled at his independent pharmacy rather of through Medicare, costs would \u2063drop from $600 \u2063million to \u200dmerely $4 million annually. <\/p>\n<p>The reason for the high Medicare prices is linked to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/thanksgiving-table-setter-a-guide-to-the-behemoth-build-back-better-act\/\" title=\"Thanksgiving Table Setter: A Guide to the Behemoth Build Back Better Act\">pharmacy benefit managers<\/a> (PBMs), who act as intermediaries between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-releases-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-and-it-is-historic\/\" title=\"White House Releases List of President Trump\u2019s Accomplishments \u2013  And It Is Historic!\">insurance companies<\/a> and pharmacies. Hart explains\u200b that PBMs are incentivized to raise prices since thay earn a \u200dpercentage of the costs. This situation has \u200dled to significant financial burdens on Medicare and patients, with a report indicating that large PBMs control over 80% of the market and frequently enough charge higher prices for\u200b medications.The article calls for a reevaluation of\u200d the healthcare payment model to alleviate these burdens and improve access and affordability of medications for patients.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_0)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>One pharmacist drew attention to a massive pricing disparity on a key cancer drug, and that disparity may help to explain why our healthcare system here in America is known to be so expensive.<\/p>\n<p>Brad Hart of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forestparkpharmacy.com\/aboutus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forest Park Pharmacy<\/a> said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-did-christian-eriksen-the-danish-soccer-player-who-collapsed-mid-game-recently-receive-his-covid-19-vaccine\/\" title=\"FACT CHECK: Did Christian Eriksen, The Danish Soccer Player Who Collapsed Mid-Game, Recently Receive His COVID-19 Vaccine?\">viral social media post<\/a> d last week that the drug imatinib, also known as Gleevec, which is used to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia, costs a mere $7 for his business to purchase.<\/p>\n<p>His pharmacy then adds $10, meaning customers can get the drug for only $17.<\/p>\n<p>But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/breaking-trump-chooses-former-star-tv-host-lead-medicare-medicaid-agencies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Medicare<\/a> pays a shocking $2,400 for the same drug, which is 34,000 percent more than what Forest Park Pharmacy is paying.<\/p>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/research\/progress\/discovery\/gleevec#:~:text=Research%20and%20Discovery-,How%20Imatinib%20Transformed%20Leukemia%20Treatment%20and%20Cancer%20Research,DNA%20alterations%20could%20cause%20cancer.&amp;text=NCI%2Dsupported%20research%20led%20to,the%20field%20of%20cancer%20research.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> from the National Cancer Institute, Gleevec is nothing short of a &ldquo;landmark drug that has vastly improved the outcomes of patients&rdquo; with chronic myelogenous leukemia.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>The drug was therefore filled 250,000 times in a single year, costing Medicare a massive $600 million, according to Hart.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If every one of those scripts was filled at our pharmacy, instead of through Medicare, it would&rsquo;ve cost $4 million,&rdquo; Hart described in the video.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#128680; To Elon Musk and the DOGE team looking at Medicare:<\/p>\n<p>Pharmacist says<\/p>\n<p>&ndash; Cancer Medicine Imatinib costs them $7 to buy. They add $10, so you&rsquo;re out the door for $17<br \/> &ndash; When Medicare pays for this drug, IT COSTS THEM $2,400<br \/> &ndash; This drug was filled 250,000 times in 1 year costing&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KhlJ6NczTD\">pic.twitter.com\/KhlJ6NczTD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WallStreetApes\/status\/1892827602068426965?\">February 21, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>  &ldquo;That means that we are $596 million cheaper than the insurance. That&rsquo;s crazy.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Hart explained that there is a specific reason why the medication is that expensive.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Insurance companies pay a middleman, the pharmacy benefits manager, and that person decides how much that medication&rsquo;s gonna cost,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Because they get paid a percentage, and not a flat fee, the middlemen are incentivized to increase the prices as much as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Hart is hardly the first person to notice the ways in which pharmacy benefit managers increase costs for Medicare.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/oversight.house.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/PBM-Report-FINAL-with-Redactions.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> from the House Oversight Committee published last year noted that the three largest pharmacy benefit managers are &ldquo;vertically integrated with health insurers, pharmacies, and providers.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>CVS Caremark, Cigna Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth Group&rsquo;s Optum Rx control over 80 percent of the market.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;As large health care conglomerates, some have argued that these PBMs&rsquo; vertical integration with insurers and pharmacies would better position them to improve patient access and decrease the cost of prescription drugs,&rdquo; the report noted.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Instead, the opposite has occurred: patients are seeing significantly higher costs with fewer choices and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-warns-bidens-build-back-better-agenda-a-direct-assault-on-the-health-of-americans\/\" title=\"GOP Warns Biden&#039;s Build Back Better Agenda a &#039;Direct Assault&#039; on the Health of Americans\">worse care<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The damning report added that even as the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">pharmacy benefit managers tout &#038;ldquo<\/a>;the savings they provide for payers and patients through negotiation, drug utilization programs, and spread pricing,&rdquo; the evidence indicates that &ldquo;these schemes often increase costs for patients and payers.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Specifically with respect to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/goes-harris-flip-flops-medicare-campaign-says-will-not-push\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Medicare<\/a>, the lawmakers were able to identify more than 300 examples of those three behemoth pharmacy benefit managers &ldquo;preferring medications that cost at least $500 per claim more than the alternative medication they excluded on their formulary.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>There is a clear disconnect between the amazing innovations drug companies are able to produce and the often excellent engine of efficiency that is American capitalism.<\/p>\n<p>As usual, that disconnect seems to have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/elon-musks-doge-moves-wasteful-spending-motherlode-big-money-fraud-happening\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">worsened<\/a> by the federal government.<\/p>\n<p>That means we need to take a serious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/time-hard-reflection-need-start-cutting-entitlements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">look<\/a> at the way we pay for medical care, for the well-being of our nation&rsquo;s budget and, more importantly, for the well-being of ourselves and our families.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; 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After adding a $10 markup, customers pay just $17. In stark contrast, Medicare pays an astonishing $2,400 for the same drug\u201434,000% more than what Hart&#8217;s pharmacy pays. According to the National Cancer Institute, Gleevec is considered a groundbreaking drug that has greatly improved patient outcomes for this type of leukemia. Hart noted that Medicare filled 250,000 prescriptions for this drug in one year at a total cost of $600 million; if those prescriptions had been filled at his pharmacy instead, it would have only cost about $4 million. He emphasized that this represents a savings of nearly $596 million compared to insurance costs and explained that insurance companies rely on middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) who determine medication prices and are incentivized to raise them due to their commission-based payment structure. A report from last year indicated that major PBMs control over 80% of the market but have led to higher costs and fewer choices for patients rather than improving access or reducing prices as intended. The disconnect between pharmaceutical innovation and efficient capitalism appears exacerbated by government involvement in healthcare financing; thus necessitating reevaluation of how medical care is funded for both fiscal responsibility and public health<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2406503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Pharmacy-Pills.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[51067,34630,4159,51068],"class_list":["post-2406502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cancer-drug","tag-healthcare-costs","tag-medicare","tag-pharmacy-owner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Pharmacy-Pills.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2406502"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2406507,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406502\/revisions\/2406507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2406503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2406502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2406502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2406502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}