Worse Than Haliburton? Discount Cards For Seniors

The President's Pal and Business Partner Will Make Millions From Drug Card Program He Helped Design

el - This story is almost unbelievable and unreported.

The cards have been assailed for not guaranteeing any price discounts, while potentially driving millions to these PBMs. So why, then, is the President so adamant about the cards?
For one thing, he has extremely close financial, professional and political ties to AdvancePCS – the company that stands to make a windfall off the program. Specifically, Bush is close friends with David Halbert – CEO of AdvancePCS. As the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported on 8/18/02 "before starting what would become AdvancePCS, David Halbert helped clean up a deal with Harken Energy that had prompted an SEC investigation of George W. Bush." After the investigation, Halbert then invited Bush to become one of the original investors in AdvancePCS – a transaction that made the President up to $1 million.

BUSH NOW PAYS BACK HIS COMPANY IN KIND: Soon after assuming the Presidency, Bush paid Halbert back in kind – soliciting his help in writing the 2001 drug discount card proposal that is now part of the new Medicare law. Halbert brags about the complicity, saying the White House specifically asked him to help write parts of the plan.

...The bottom line: Discount cards will bring profits to PBMs will little real benefit to seniors. Even William Novelli, head of the AARP which supported the bill, admitted the cards would not make a significant difference for seniors: "I don't think that drug card will be the world's most thrilling event."