One of the many problems with modern healthcare and rising insurance costs is the greed of individual doctors and clinics in that they are often paid handsome, legal gratuities for having recommended expensive brand name drugs instead of generics.

As a result of legal settlements, about 7 of the major drug manufacturers have been required to publish their long-secretly-held data on what they spend on doctor and clinic gratuities. That data has been assembled into an online database where you can search to see if your doctor or clinic engages in this practice and, if so, how much or what was the gratuity.

See here:

http://projects.propublica.org/docdo...ate%5Bid%5D=44

This practice has resulted to an enourmous unnecessary reliance on brand name drugs instead of much less expensive generics and has eroded the strenght of major medical pharmacy plans thoughout the nation. There was a time when the pharmacy plans in PPOs (what most of us have) were really quite good as they'd pay the majority of the costs. No longer. Now there are high separate deductibles for PPO pharmacy plans and the drugs are rated into tiers of costs with higher copays for most expensive brand name drugs.

What do higher premiums and eroded services mean in the nation's PPO pharmacy plans mean for you. Well, quite simply it means that the drug companies found a way to spread the high costs of unnecessary purchases of brand name drugs to the general public. Apparently, this sleight of hand helps them hide the fact that they're sucking you dry through the health insurance premiums you pay, whether you use brand name drugs or not.

I advise you to look up your doctor or clinic on this site and see how much they get for their back-room dealings. Then, if you find your doctor has been receiving payments from the drug companies, confront him / her about it the next time you see him.

I'll bet they'll choose your patronage over that of the drug companies.

LF