Eagles Insight Podcast
Dive into a world where military precision meets corporate strategy, uniting the best leadership principles from the battlefield to the boardroom.
In this podcast, you will learn how to:
- Sharpen Your Vision: Gain transformative insights that equip today’s leaders to excel amidst complex challenges.
- Veteran Discipline in Business: Uncover how the discipline and efficiency of veterans transform their roles in civilian sectors, influencing successful business strategies.
- Combat Wisdom for Executives: Explore the dynamic parallels between military tactics and executive decision-making, applying combat-tested wisdom for impactful organizational leadership.
Tune in to navigate the complex terrain of leadership and strategy, where each episode enhances your understanding and elevates your leadership prowess.
Eagles Insight Podcast
36 - Leadership through Influence: Taking on PBMs with Daniel Strause
Bob Dixon invites Daniel Strause to the show. Daniel is an expert on the often-hidden world of Pharmaceutical Benefit Managers (PBMs). Discover how these little-known entities have become the most significant influence on skyrocketing pharmaceutical spending in America. Daniel sheds light on the surprising history of PBMs, from their innocuous beginnings as administrative facilitators to their current role in manipulating drug prices for profit. Learn about the legislative loopholes that enabled this transformation, the consolidation of the PBM market into the hands of just three major players, and the perverse incentives within the healthcare system that drive up costs for employers and employees alike.
Key Takeaways:
- Pharmaceutical Benefit Managers (PBMs) are the most significant influence on the hyperinflation of pharmaceutical spending in the US, despite most Americans being unaware of their existence.
- The PBM market has undergone hyper-consolidation, with three conglomerates now controlling over 85% of the US market, leading to a lack of competition and increased potential for profit-seeking.
- Mail order pharmacies, often presented as a cost-saving measure, can be significantly more expensive, with PBMs controlling the data and offering misleading discounts based on inflated prices.
- Employers, as the primary fiduciaries of their employee health plans under ERISA, are facing increasing legal risks for selecting PBMs that engage in price gouging.
- There is growing bipartisan support for PBM reform in Congress, with efforts underway to increase transparency and address anti-competitive practices.
- Increased public awareness and engagement with legislators are critical to driving meaningful change in the PBM industry.
Quotes from Daniel Strause this episode:
"PBM, it's an acronym for Pharmaceutical Benefit Manager that 99% of America has never heard of before, but you'd be shocked to find out they are the most significant influence of why we have the hyperinflation in pharmaceutical, in our pharmaceutical spend."
"In the last 10 years, there's been a hyper consolidation where you now have three conglomerates that own over 85% of the US market."
"60% of all bankruptcies in America have to do with healthcare. 75% of those bankruptcies are people that are fully insured. Employers are not even realizing the very vendors they're picking for their insurance has a direct causal effect on their employee's Bankruptcies."