An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back

by Elisabeth Rosenthal

Patient Access Network doesn’t have any more MS funding this year.’ Or maybe you get a notice that, yes, you’ve been covered for the year, and you’d relax. But the whole thing is crazy and super unnerving.” On its IRS Form 990, the Patient Access Network defines its mission as “a society where every individual can access needed medical care.” It describes its method as “helping underinsured patients access needed medical treatment through copay assistance.” PAN brags that it does almost no fund-raising, but it received more than $300 million in donations in 2013. PAN does not disclose its donors, but says they include “pharmaceutical companies, medically related organizations, individuals and foundations.” Four gave more than $25 million and one over $100 million. It is administered by the Lash Group, a healthcare consultancy whose major clients are pharmaceutical companies. According to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), most of PAN’s funding is provided by manufacturers of the drugs covered by the foundation’s programs. Donors are permitted to earmark funds for particular diseases—presumably the ones their drugs treat. PAN’s financial report shows that 85 percent of its “grantees” are on Medicare, which means they can’t legally accept co-pay assistance directly from a pharmaceutical firm’s foundation. Pharmaceutical firms are skirting the spirit if not the letter of the Medicare antikickback law. The Patient Access Network even asked the ...