PBM's exist to help manage costs. But they also sell the information they collect about drugs and patients. It ends up in the hands of drug companies. He asked that we disguise his identity. Lobbyists for health care companies say this doesn't happen.
Nobody can sell that data.
But this list of patient names, social security numbers, and insurance companies was accidentally left in the office of a Dallas doctor by a drug salesman. And State Senator Jane Nelson, who wrote the law, says it's regularly broken. Because they then can make assumptions about your behavior. If you're taking a drug for a sexually transmitted disease they can make assumptions about your sexual behavior. If you're taking an anti-depressant they might assume things about your mental condition.