I Took the PBM Lobby's IQ Quiz!
- 15 hours ago
- 2 min read
The PBM lobby made an online "IQ quiz" to teach the public how helpful pharmacy benefit managers really are. So I took it. I failed. Proudly.
Here is the thing about a quiz written by the people being criticized: every "correct" answer is just their talking point wearing a graduation cap. Let me walk you through a few.
Question one: how many full-service PBMs operate in the US? I said three, because that is the honest answer. CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx process about 80 percent of every prescription claim in the country, and most of the smaller PBMs run on the big three's networks and contracts anyway. The quiz's answer? Seventy. They are literally counting the little PBMs that rent the big PBMs' pipes as if that proves the market is competitive. It proves the opposite.
Then it gets bolder. The quiz claims PBMs buy drugs from manufacturers and sell them to pharmacies. That is false, and it is not even their own job description. That is what a wholesaler does. PBMs do not take possession of the medicine. They sit in the middle and set the terms.
My favorite: it asks whether PBMs reimburse independent pharmacies more or less than the big chains, and insists the answer is more. Tell it to every independent pharmacy that closed its doors because the reimbursements did not cover the cost of the drug. When I taught percussion, kids who said something they knew was wrong got the Wrong-O Bongo. The PBM lobby earned about six of them in this quiz alone.
It goes on. The quiz brags that PBMs save Americans $300 billion. Based on what? Sticker prices they inflated themselves, then took credit for "discounting." It says rebates lower drug spending, when prices took off the moment those kickbacks became legal. It says employers design the drug benefits, not PBMs, which will be news to every employer who has ever been handed a formulary they were not allowed to see inside of.
The whole quiz is a magic trick. Inflate the price, skim the middle, then hand you a certificate saying they saved you money.
Here is the answer that was not on their board: you can just leave. We did. No PBM, no rebate games, no spread. You see the real price and decide for yourself.
Head to forestparkpharmacy.com, check the price checker, and transfer today to save.
See ya.
