It’s been awhile since I wrote about Caremark, mostly because my battle ended with them when they finally approved Sticks’ medication after fighting me on it for well over two years. In the process of that battle, I suggested that they did not approve his meds because they wanted our doctor to prescribe something on their ‘approved list’, even though it wasn’t as effective as the one he was taking.

Because it was all about the rebates. Sure it was. If we switched to meds with negotiated rebates, Caremark’s profit margin rose.

Now Caremark has settled an investigation with a payment of $38.5 million and the promise to play nicer in the future.

Of course, they admitted no past wrongdoing. And $38.5 million is but a tiny, tiny drop in their profit bucket of $811.2 million for the final quarter (yes, quarter) of 2008.

Kind of like doing the wrong thing until you’re caught, then saying “oops, didn’t know I did anything wrong, won’t do it again!” Except that what they did impacted real lives in real time and you can bet those folks won’t be seeing any piece of the settlement pie.

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