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North Carolina
Tony "The Fixer" Rand
By ProCare.org
Chapter One: Meet 'The Fixer'
It seemed bland enough on the surface. Just another House-Senate committee hearing in Raleigh. Legislators droned on. Lobbyists yawned. The press did not attend.
Then Tony 'The Fixer' Rand stood up. And dropped a bombshell.
The hearing was about who would receive a contract to run the $2 billion State Employees Health Care Plan's prescription drug program - that provides prescription drugs to teachers and state employees.
The hearing rolled along pretty mundanely. Until Tony Rand took the floor. And declared that his buddy (and golfing enthusiast), 'Nine Iron' Jack Walker, the head of the State Employees Health Care Plan, was going to decide who got the contract. By himself. Alone. Period. The committee was not going to vote on the contract.
If that seems odd, what happened next was bizarre.
Rand adjourned the meeting.
And Jack Walker gave the $2 billion contract to a corporation that just paid a $30 million settlement for ripping off consumers on prescription drugs.
According to North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper:
"This company [Medco] switched patients' drugs so that it could win rebates from drug makers." (Press Release, April 26 2004)
Now, why would the state give a two billion dollar contract to a company that just paid a $30 million settlement for ripping off consumers?
The only press coverage this hearing got was one small notice in the Charlotte Observer announcing another state government contract:
"North Carolina's health insurance plan for state employees awarded a four-year contract to Medco Health Solutions to run the plan's pharmacy benefit program.
"Starting April 1, the N.C. Teachers' and State Employee's Comprehensive Major Medical Plan will pay Medco to handle an estimated $2 billion in drug purchases from retail pharmacies over 45 months.
"The plan would not disclose the administrative fees to be paid to Medco, which is based in Franklin Lakes, N.J."
Shocked? Outraged? Puzzled?
Read on.
This is a story about power. And politics. And two men. Tony 'The Fixer' Rand. And 'Nine Iron' Jack Walker.
To be continued in Chapter Two … Who Is Medco?
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