To Lower Prescription Costs, Policymakers Must Keep Their Eyes on the Prize - Inside Sources

Prescott eNews

At the speed of today’s news cycle, it can be hard to keep up with the latest healthcare policy news coming out of Washington. While President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have drawn the most attention, there has been substantial activity on several health policy fronts. In particular, policymakers have been looking for ways to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

The bad news is that some in Washington are considering imposing price controls on certain medications, a solution that will have little effect on prices but damage American innovation in the long run. The good news is that there are tangible steps Congress and the president can take to help make medicine more affordable.

Instead of imposing destructive price control policies, policymakers should instead focus on reining in the Pharmacy Benefit Manager industry.

PBMs are monopolistic middlemen that make healthcare more expensive and less accessible to patients. Trump and his team recognize this and have taken action to crack down on PBM abuse through a recent executive order.

Experts have long bemoaned the harmful effects PBMs have had on the healthcare system. The three largest PBMs — Cigna’s Express Scripts, CVS Caremark and UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx — control nearly 80 percent of the market, and the top six control nearly all of it. This level of concentration gives PBMs enormous power over what drugs patients can access... CONTINUE READING