CEO Urges Employees To Send Emails Against Health-Care Reform

[sufrommich]

It's happened in earlier Washington battles where powerful business interests have been threatened: corporate executives pressuring their employees into taking action on behalf of the firm's perceived political interests.

And now it's happening on health-care reform.

Employees of Express Scripts, a St. Louis-based pharmacy benefit manager that's ranked 115 in Fortune's rankings of America's largest corporations, on Monday received an email from the firm's CEO, George Paz. Titled "Take Action: Your Voice Matters on Healthcare Reform," the email, obtained by TPMmuckraker, denounces the "rush to pass legislation that could fundamentally alter our current system without a full understanding of the costs and consequences of those changes."

It then directs employees to a company web page which allows them to send an email to members of Congress, under the heading "Concerns With Health Care Reform." That form email to lawmakers appears to come from an ordinary citizen, giving no indication that the sender works for a company that would be directly affected by reform.

It's not hard to see why Express Scripts would oppose the reforms currently under consideration in Congress. Much of its business involves negotiating and managing drug benefits on behalf of large employers, especially government agencies. Anything that could weaken the current employer-based system of coverage -- as some believe a public option could -- threatens its business model. Hence the following line in the company's form email to lawmakers: "eforms should build on the successes of the current employer-based system."


"In 2004, the state of New York sued Express Scripts for fraud, accusing it of pocketing $100 million in drug rebates that should have gone to the state. The company ultimately paid a multi-million dollar fine to settle the charges."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/ceo_urges_employees_to_send_emails_against_health-care_reform.php?ref=fpb

[kywildcat]

1. George Pax is a domestic terrorist.