Posted by Michael Wonder on 06 Jun 2018
Pharmacy benefit managers are not the cause of high prescription drug prices
6 June 2018 - The press has found no shortage of villains for the high cost of prescription drugs today.
While the pharmaceutical companies typically receive the lion’s share of the blame, of late the Pharmacy Benefit Managers have come under fire for their supposed role in high drug prices.
Pharmacy Benefit Managers work on behalf of health insurance companies to help them negotiate prices with the pharmaceutical companies, and the price breaks they obtain typically come in the form of rebates paid to the companies.
Some aver that the rebates solely benefit the health insurance companies, that they do nothing to reduce drug prices, and that they should be abolished. Even Scott Gottlieb, the FDA commissioner, has suggested that Congress consider legislation that would limit rebates in some way.
