While the Department of Health and Human Services has asked drug manufacturers to disclose list prices for most drugs they feature in television commercials, the industry’s largest trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), has countered with an offer to include content directing consumers to a new website where pricing information could [...]
This article was published on March 13, 2019 on BenefitsPro written by Max Nisen. OptumRX, UnitedHealth's PBM, will mandate that all new employer health-plan clients pass the drug discounts it obtains directly to plan participants. The health-care policy environment is shifting in a dangerous way for insurance giants. A seemingly small change in how drugs [...]
In late Fall, the President signed two bills that should make it easier for pharmacists to help customers find the lowest cost, appropriate medications. The “Know the Lowest Price Act of 2018” and “Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act” bills are designed to crack down on “gag clauses” that prevent pharmacists from telling patients [...]
The article below was published on December 20, 2017 by BenefitsPRO, written by David Hines. Photo Source: BenefitsPRO As we head into 2018, large employers are bracing for a 5 percent rise in the cost of providing employee health care benefits, according to the latest National Business Group on Health survey. In a [...]
To help control rising specialty drug costs, the National Business Group on Health has issued a lengthy report including 5 public policy recommendations they hope will educate the marketplace and encourage effective, strategic partnerships. According to NBGH officials, plan design is the key to managing the use of specialty prescriptions as well as the costs. [...]
While all treatment costs have risen consistently in the past 2 decades, the pharmaceutical sector has put up some amazing numbers. In 2011 alone, Americans spent an average of $985 per person, approximately twice the amount spent in other developed countries for the same benefit. In 2015, aggregate prescription drug sales in the U.S. totaled [...]
