and they just got lucky on a guess?

It is a generic medication for folks with high cholesterol, but there are a number of those on the market. As it happens, she is on one generic and I'm on another. And unless you happen to get lucky on guessing that a) we have high cholesterol, b) are on a drug to help lower it and c) guess the one she is on you aren't going to guess correctly. A quick look through Google brings up about 10-12 different meds, generic and non-generic. Pretty good guess to get it in one.

Check that there was nothing hidden in anything you signed giving permission to share with drug companies for "statistical analysis" or some other bs.

I should not have used "analysis"

I have caught it in a couple doctors offices. I won't sign it. It is outside of HIPAA. A separate page given with HIPAA.

Unless you are still using cash, every purchase you make with a debit or credit card is tracked.

Search engines and many websites know your search tendencies.

A smart phone gives out all sorts of data, where you are, your interests, etc.

It really is horrible.

I had twins in 1991. Pampers, Huggies, formula companies, baby magazines, etc. were all sending me mailings.

don't insure companies share info in some common insurance company database? I seem to remember such a thing existing a few years back. That means if you billed your insurance company for the meds, it would be there. The solicitor is another insurance company - perhaps it gets the info because of some twisted concept of free competition for your business?

Insurance companies can share info with their clearing houses (the ones who actually collect money), but they and the clearing houses are prohibited from sharing that info with any 3rd parties. If I go to a new doctor I have to give specific permission for the doctor's office to even tell my wife what time I have an appointment.

My MIL (who has since passed away) lived with us for a number of years. She was also stone deaf. If we had a question for the insurance company - even though we had her durable power-of-attorney on file with the insurance company - they wouldn't talk to us about anything unless we put her on the phone and told them it was ok to talk to us.

HIPAA makes if very clear that patient info is not to be shared with anyone outside the doctor-pharmacy-insurance loop without express written permission of the patient. (The one quasi-legal exception is if the doctor, or the hospital, has problems with their software and has to call the vendor for tech support, the tech may access the restricted information if necessary to resolve the issue, but the tech had damn well not share or in any act on the information he/she saw.)