The $9 Billion Upcharge: How Insurers Kept Extra Cash From Medicare By Rx Access New Jersey • 07 Jan, 2019 • THE WALL STREET JOURNAL—Health insurers have collected over $9 billion in additional revenue from taxpayers from 2006 to 2015 after being consistently wrong with their prescription drug cost estimates.
How Will The Medicare Part D Benefit Change Under Current Law and Leading Proposals?
Proposed changes to the Part D benefit design would help to mitigate out-of-pocket drug cost increases for Medicare beneficiaries, particularly for those with high drug costs who currently face no limit in their annual out-of-pocket expenses, with Part D plan sponsors and drug manufacturers potentially picking up much of the additional cost.
CMS updates Medicare Plan Finder following stakeholder pressure
For the first time in a decade, CMS updated its online Medicare Plan Finder tool. There are major improvements, including a mobile-friendly design, side-by-side comparisons of plans and the ability to build a list of drugs to find Part D coverage.
Political Leaders Must Ensure Older Americans Can Afford Medications
Contrary to most of the insurance plans they had when they were younger, the prescription drug program for older adults within Medicare — Medicare Part D — doesn’t have a cap on out-of-pocket costs for prescription medicines.
Drug Middlemen Got Big Markup in New York, Pharmacists Say
BLOOMBERG—State officials have continued to investigate pharmacy benefit managers and how they operate. A recent report found that their per-prescription markups have more than doubled since 2016 in New York.
Attorneys general fighting for right to regulate pharmacy middlemen
DAYTON DAILY NEWS—32 attorneys general from across the country, including New Jersey, joined together to file an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting a state's right to regulate pharmacy benefit managers and address the rising cost of prescription drugs.
Trump signs bills lifting pharmacist 'gag clauses' on drug prices
NBC NEWS—Pharmacists will no longer be stymied by gag clauses forced on them by drug companies under new legislation signed by President Trump. Under the Know the Lowest Price Act and the Patients’ Right to Know Drug Prices Act, pharmacists won’t be prevented from sharing cheaper drug alternatives with their patients.
Pharmacists say they're being squeezed by benefit managers
PITTSBURGH BUSINESS TIMES—A recent article explores how PA pharmacists are being squeezed by pharmacy benefit managers — the middlemen in the drug pricing system.