Gerard Ferro, founder and CEO of Free For All, Inc®., has developed an enhancement to the company’s free transparent healthcare discount program, RxCut® Plus. The company launched the Equalizer on January 1, 2011 in order to assist those being disadvantaged by their Insurance programs. The Equalizer got its name because it acts as a gatekeeper for all pharmacy transactions, allowing people to keep more of their hard-earned money. This “free for all” RxCut Equalizer card guarantees that card users are receiving the absolute lowest prices possible on their prescriptions. Whether it’s the insurance copayment, the pharmacy retail price, or the RxCut® price, card users will always pay the lowest price.
This modern day Robin Hood is preventing Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) from overcharging hardworking consumers on pharmacy transactions. Ferro lives by the mantra that affordable healthcare should be an inalienable right of all. With over 29 years experience in the healthcare industry, Ferro put his expertise to use by providing all Americans with access to a free “no strings attached” healthcare discount program.
Ferro’s program was designed to stop consumers from being charged their insurance copayment when the retail price of the medication is actually lower. He is on a mission to educate Americans about the practices of PBMs and how they unjustly affect all consumers. PBMs are a third party administrator of prescription drug claims in the US, and are responsible for negotiating deep discounts with pharmacies. They also develop preferred drug lists for their clients and negotiate discounts and rebates with drug manufacturers, resulting in the inflated pricing of prescriptions. Three PBMs currently control 86 percent of the 3.6 billion prescriptions processed every year. In 2009, the combined revenues of the top three PBMs after drug cost deductions were over $80 billion. [1]
Today, more than 210 million Americans receive prescription drug benefits managed by PBMs. Often, those 210 million Americans are charged a copayment for a generic medication that is higher than the retail price and the RxCut® discounted price. The RxCut® price on 19 of the 25 most frequently prescribed generic medications are lower than an insurance co-pay of $10. Ferro recommends that everyone register their free healthcare discount card with the pharmacy and that all users insist on finding out their RxCut price from pharmacists when purchasing their medications.
Ferro says he is committed to stopping this travesty in healthcare and continues exposing unfair practices of the PBMs.
The free RxCut® Plus healthcare discount program offers discounts of up to 75 percent on prescriptions and up to 50 percent on labs and imaging. There is absolutely no cost to use the card. The RxCut® Plus card is accepted at over 54,000 pharmacies across the US and Puerto Rico including all major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, etc.. There is no enrollment or activation of any kind so you do not have to worry about sharing your personal information to obtain your card.
References:
[1] Trompeter, Erin, and Susan Namovicz-Peat, eds. Pharmacy Benefit Trends & Data: Costs, Benefit Design, Utilization, PBM Market Share; 2000-2009 Survey Results. Publication. Washington, DC: Atlantic Information Services, 2009. Print.