2 August 2016 - Express Scripts Holding Co said on Monday it would add a handful of medicines in 2017 to its list of drugs that are excluded from insurance coverage, including treatments for arthritis and psoriasis, while several other medicines will be removed from the exclusion list.
The nation's largest pharmacy benefit manager has been excluding medicines from its coverage list since 2014, citing concern about costs to its health insurers and corporate customers. The 2017 excluded medicines list will entail 85 drugs, it said, compared with 87 in 2016.
By excluding drugs from its formulary, Express Scripts said it has been better able to negotiate lower prices from drugmakers, and will thereby save customers an estimated $1.8 billion in 2017, up from $1.3 billion this year. The coverage list determines whether millions of people with private insurance can easily use an insurance co-pay to buy their medicine.