There are people who have problems figuring out their moral compass, and then you have the really bad apples, individuals like Don Allen Jr. Don Allen Jr showed up magically one day on the Pharmacist area of Linkedin. In one of the discussion areas of the Pharmacist area he brazening pushed one of these "Prescription Discount Cards" offering to set YOU up in a business pushing their cards. These cards have been a tragic fraud placed on both patients and Pharmacies. They offer nothing, And they work like this.
Every time a Pharmacy transmits an insurance claim to a legitimate patient benifit management company (such as express scripts), the insurance charges the pharmacy for the prilveldge. The transaction fee is most often somewhere about a dime a transaction. It might take 7 or 8 transactions to get them to "pay" for your prescription. Most of the time, as of today, the vast majority of the prescriptions "paid" by insurance is reimbussed at a cost less than the cost of dispensing the drug. They are a loss. The transaction costs are usually 50 cents, the electronic prescription is 25 cents each, the bottle is about 40 cents, the lable is about 40 cents and then there is electricity, phones, internet, and you have to pay the pharmacist, the bag, heat etc. The overall cost is figured to be in around 11-14 dollars to fill and prescription on insurance. For cash, the overhead is a bit less, because there is no transaction frees, no insurance rejections, prior authorizations, etc. You see it and you fill it and the vast majority of most pharmacies is their small cash prescription business.
Along comes creeps like Don Allen Jr. They sucker you in like Amway, into this great business. What is their business? They print out these cheap plastic card. They buy as many data minded addresses they can and mail them out to to anyone they can. They come with a notice "The Drug Discount Card You Requestion Has Been Approved".
That is just the begining of the scam. The cards have all the information a normal inusrance card has, except the name and date of birth. It doesn't have to be on the card. When the card is processed, all the personal data and health records of the patient is then transmited to the "discount company" and in some cases that information has been reported to be used of identitiy theft...flat out. Most of the time, the data is just packaged and sold to drug companies, health insurance companies, supply companies, etc.
If a prescription costs 20 dollars, a fairly resonable price of an inexpensive generic drug like generic Norvasc, the "discount card" has a BIN number, a GRP Number, a PCN Number and an ID number just like a insurance. Most often these cards have a warning on them saying something to the affect of, "Warning Pharmacist: It is illegal to not accept this drug card". Some regulatory agencies have leaned on these scammer "discount cards" and now they often have a warning that they are in no way an Insurance Card, but only a "Discount Card". When processed, the "discount card" charges the Pharmacy perhaps $3 and the transaction fees. The they lower your price to say $15. And then they make the entire cost of the drug a "copayment".
It didn't take long for most pharmacies to figure out the scam and stop taking the card. Pharmacist are often not even processing regular insurance any longer because it is just cheaper to give the drug for free. The "Discount Cards" are completely over the top
Now, the trick is not to get prosecuted or thumbed for being involved in a privacy and issurance scam. So these recruit suckers like you to pay some money and help you make your own "business" of this scam. So guys like Don Allen Jr popup wherever they think their spam is welcome and push their racket, looking for new fish.
So on Friday afternoon, it seemed that Don Allen Jr posted his crap into the serious discussion areas of the Pharmacist Discussion Group. Or so I thought. Now either it automatically moved to the "promotions" area, that NOBODY in the group pays attention to, as it is basically a toilet bowl of the constant barrage, OR when I flagged it, it might have been moved. Meanwhile I got annoyed with it, thinking it was invading the discussion area, and I commented "Don Allen, Jr. - A man without true ethics... " Then I immediately realized that it was in the "promotions" section, so I deleted the comment. I mean, these guys are like mosquitos around the campfire. Who needs to get into any conversation with these scam arrests.
But Don had his chance now! And he privately replied just like the racketeering bully what such a scam artist he is. You could rip this page right out of a Kojak Episode of the bad guy. He wrote: ------------ Don Allen, Jr. has sent you a message Date: 6/22/2013 Subject: Your Comment Are you questioning my integrity and ethical standards? You had better do a little research before you make statements about people that you do not know. Just to help educate you a little, my firm has saved the American consumer millions of dollars on prescription medication purchases. Also, my firm has reimbursed million of dollars to pharmacies in the way of dispensing fees, etc. Have you facts together buddy, before you say something stupid next time. Don Allen, Jr.
Now let me answer in a way that Don Allen, Jr can understand
Listen Junior, I'm not questioning your integrity and ethical standards. I am completely aware that you are like pound scum and have no ethics or integrety. You take advantage of the desperation of the poor to use them and extensions of your scam. You leave behind individuals broken, while accumulating a ton of personal information from your "discount cards" and then you fleece the Pharmacy. You represent EVERYTHING that is wrong in healthcare today. Unfortunately, there is a more than a little bit of you in nearly every aspect of the healthcare business, from Pfizer down to the PBMs to the beauracrats to the politicians.
When the devil comes to take you, you will be joined by quite a few of your associated in the healthcare racket.
I hope you understand this, because I'm trying to be clear.