"If there's one thing that can bankrupt America, it's health care"

That is the statement made by the US Comptroller General, David Walker.

The Medicare Drug Benefit is under fire now, being called "probably the most fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation since the 1960s." The benefit was meant to help seniors with the cost of their prescriptions yet, a new report from Consumers Union found that 28% of private insurance plans offering the Medicare Part D increased the costs of their drugs in 2006 by 5% or more --- after seniors were already locked into their insurance plan for the year. Already, increases in some prescription drug costs have occurred in 2007-- and are expected to continue.

In order to get some accountability, the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee sent "letters to Medicare drug plans requesting data to determine the size of drug plans' profits and whether discounts negotiated by PBMs [Prescription Benefit Managers] with drug makers were passed on to beneficiaries." This sounds like a reasonable request; however, the CMS Administrator declined the request stating "several independent entities … have concluded that public disclosure of negotiated price concessions will reduce the ability of pharmacy benefit managers and plans to negotiate significant discounts." Even the lobbyists representing the PBMs responded to the chairman's request by stating "... we think it's critical that the committee safeguard the information."

If the savings are being passed down to the beneficiaries (which doesn't explain the increases to the Part D plans), why the secrecy?