The sneakwrap techniques of never making a promise to your customers you can't break have been perfected mostly by the software and telecom industries. But one reader points out another arena in which sneakwrap is being taken to new heights: the Medicare discount drug card program.
"It looks like sneakwrap is becoming the new wave," the reader wrote, pointing to some of the objections that have been raised regarding the Medicare-approved drug discount cards. "Want to know what drugs 'Brand X' card let you get at a discount? Well, it depends. You need to choose your card carefully, because not every card has a complete formulary. And, by law, you are stuck with that card for a year --no switching, even if you are willing to pay again for a new card. So you have to check the up-to-date list on the Internet and carefully pick the card that covers all the drugs you need."
But while customers can switch Medicare discount cards only once a year, the card providers can change drugs and prices every week. "The discount card company can add or remove any drug from their formulary, at any time," the reader wrote. "They are trying to figure out how many card holders they will have, and how much of what drugs they will move. And if it turns out they are not making money, or maybe they just want to fold and keep the cash they have collected so far, the card company can simply discontinue services, leaving the cardholders to wait the rest of their 12 months to try again. So even though you picked the card carefully to cover your needs, the card company could just drop all of your needed drugs within the month. No penalties, it's perfectly legal."
And, in the grand sneakwrap tradition, all the Medicare card providers have to do is change the formulary on their website. "Yes, on that same website list you used to pick the card so carefully, they can just take it off the list, like it was never there," the reader wrote. "No, they don't need show a history of when they add and drop drugs. Why would you want to be able to see if they add and drop drugs a lot? Well, that's just tough -- you can't."
Of course, what really makes the revocable nature of the Medicare drug discounts particularly disturbing is the fact that it's we taxpayers, and not the drug companies, that are footing the bill for them. And, as someone who is all too rapidly approaching Medicare age myself, I wonder how long it will before the sneakwrap approach will be apply to other Medicare benefits, or even Social Security? In a sneakwrapped world, will we have any entitlements that can't be taken away by someone changing the rules on an obscure web page no one bothers to read?
Read and post about this story here, or write to me directly at Foster@gripe2ed.com.
12:26:30 AM 
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