This morning, the National Community Pharmacy Association announced, “FTC Chair Lina M. Khan will join us in Kansas City for the NCPA Annual Convention!” This got me even more excited than hearing that “Dr. Glaucomflecken” will also be attending NCPA 2022. Will Flanary, MD (aka Dr. Glaucomflecken) is perhaps the clearest communicator of “why vertical integration in healthcare is bad” – this 2 minute video explains the basic concept quicker and much better than I’ve done in 2 years of blogging.
I’m personally thrilled, because in the 1930s and 40s, the NARD convention (National Association of Retail Druggists is the pre-2000s name of NCPA) was the site of numerous substantive debates on antitrust policy – for example, in 1938, Wright Patman spoke to the NARD Convention in support of the Fair Trade Enabling Act. In 1949, Fair Trade was discussed at the NARD convention. I’ve already discussed this history of the NCPA here and here, so I won’t belabor the point.
Anyway, as an independent pharmacist, history nerd, FTC hanger-on and self-determination advocate, I’m thrilled that FTC Chair Khan will be at the NCPA convention in Kansas City. I hope I’ll see you there.
This is terrible. You’re excited about a representative of a falsely elected President coming to NCPA and I’m embarrassed for our profession. I would rather have the profession burn to the ground by PBMs than cooperate with Fake POTUS FTC.
Where we go one, we go all.
That is great news. Whether one likes the President or not, they should be excited that the FTC has been allowed to review mergers of giant health care conglomerates. Single payer health care usually elicits an argument, but our country is moving that way in the private sector. To me, that is a scary development. Thanks for posting Benjamin.