A new website from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) aims to give consumers a better grasp of why prescription drugs cost so much in the United States. Launched this week, the LetsTalkAboutCost.org site takes an interactive approach by engaging visitors in a Q&A about the cost and coverage of prescription medications, with a goal
At a health subcommittee hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Committee, B. Douglas Hoey, CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), called for legislative and regulatory action on pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) business practices to help rein in prescription drug costs. The hearing, titled “Examining the Drug Supply Chain”
No one claims to hold “the solution” to soaring costs for prescription drugs and how Americans and payers — including government — can afford to pay for them. But strides toward unraveling the tangle of problems behind this issue won’t be made without determined attempts at substantive discussion between the public and private sectors, according
WASHINGTON — Pharmacy benefit managers are a key focus of debate about elevated drug pricing that has come before a U.S. Senate committee. The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) and the Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition (SCPC) called for PBM reform in written testimony submitted to a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing
WASHINGTON — Sens. John McCain (R., Ariz.) and Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D., Ill.) this week reintroduced the Fair Accountability and Innovative Research (FAIR) Drug Pricing Act, aimed at improving cost transparency for pharmaceutical price hikes. The FAIR Drug Pricing Act would require drug manufacturers to notify the Department of Health
A half-dozen congressmen pointed a finger at pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) on the floor of the House of Representatives last week in an hour of comments on the high cost of prescriptions drugs, the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) said in its Executive Update e-newsletter. In the session, Reps. Doug Collins (R., Ga.), Brian Babin
With high prescription drug costs a pillar of the national debate on health care, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) is trying to shed some light on drug pricing. The Washington, D.C.-based PBM trade group on Wednesday released a video titled, “What is drug price transparency?”. PCMA said the goal is to show how transparency
NEW YORK — With the 2016 presidential election drawing near, health care has emerged as a policy area in which the two major candidates’ differences are strikingly clear. A useful starting point might be their respective approaches to prescription drug pricing. The Republican candidate, Donald Trump, created a sensation in January when he advocated allowing
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has made suggestions for improving the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including bigger subsidies for private insurance and a Medicare-like public plan in some states. Obama also said drug makers were putting their bottom lines ahead of the common good by opposing any constraints on medication prices. “We worked successfully with
WASHINGTON — Inflation in medication costs eased last year due to spending controls and fewer new blockbusters, although there are still numerous cases of sticker shock. Spending on prescription drugs rose 5.2% in 2015, including the effects of rebates, driven by an 18% increase in specialty drugs, noted Express Scripts Holding Co. in a recent
When it comes to health care coverage, the cost burden is continuing to shift to employees. A recent analysis by HR management consultancy Aon revealed that the average health care plan rate increase for midsize and large companies was 3.2% in 2015, the lowest rate increase since Aon began tracking the data in 1996. Aon
