Anna Harris’s Patient Playbook
PBMs & Pharmacy
When your insurer owns the PBM that owns the pharmacy, the same dollar gets taxed three times. Her guides to seeing it — and paying cash instead.
Paid Three Times — when your insurer owns the PBM and the pharmacy
Same company, same money, same game — while the local independent pharmacy fights to survive. North Dakota’s response: require pharmacies to be at least 51% owned by licensed pharmacists.
Pharmacy Transparency — ask for the cash price
Call your pharmacist and ask what they’d charge cash — she flags markups she describes as extreme (a “2,250% upcharge” on one cover). Cash pay is often cheaper than your copay.
Anna Harris’s content is independently created and published by her; AbilityForge indexes it as an allied public resource. Figures are hers and her sources’ — each post is linked so you can verify it directly. Nothing here is medical or legal advice.