I am all for “transparency in drug pricing.” The question is transparency proponents have to answer is: why are they only focusing on how drug companies set their prices when the effective price consumers pay is set by PBMs, insurers and hospitals??
Take this story from Minneapolis.
A major company has rolled back the price of a potentially life-saving prescription drug after a KARE 11 News investigation.
But the decision has some people asking how often we’re being overcharged on other medicines.
Curt’s Story
It started with Curt Burshem.
Back in November he told us CVS Caremark had jacked up the price for a prescription drug a family member needed for a kidney disorder.
Curt Burshem discovered that CVS was overcharging him on prescription drugs.
"When I see a company doing this crap, it makes me insane,” he said.
But, now, CVS has reversed the price high.
"Justice had been served,” Curt told us.
When Curt originally went to the CVS pharmacy in Maple Grove last Spring, the initial 30-day supply cost about $.87 per pill.
But when he followed his insurance company’s advice and ordered a 90-day supply through the mail, CVS Caremark increased the price to more than $6 a pill.
After KARE 11 called CVS they rolled the price back and gave Curt a refund.
Which raises the question: If transparency proponents were intellectually honest (some are, most are not) they would demand the same openness from every health care institution that shapes access to and the price of medicines.
Will PBMs and insurers reveal how they move from drugs that they acquire at 40-60 percent below pharmacy retail prices to charging consumers 30 percent of that retail price?
Will PBMs and insurers reveal how and why they decide when their customers are forced to fail first on medicines?
We need to know. They claim drug costs are climbing at an unsustainable rate. That doesn’t square with data since 2000, spending on drugs has remained at 9-10 percent or HHS projections that overall drugs will remain at about 9 percent of total health spending through 2030. So why are copays and co-insurance rates increasing??
Will hospitals reveal how they go from drugs acquired at the same rate to charging up to 700 percent of retail prices? And while they are at it, will they explain why charges for hospital care increased faster than drugs, even as the use of these new medicines reduce hospital costs? Why has hospital spending increased 6 times faster than drug spending between 2010-2013?
If I am a pharmaceutical company, I’d be for transparency for everyone. I’d show them mine, if they showed theirs. Let’s have the Full Monty for all.
Take this story from Minneapolis.
A major company has rolled back the price of a potentially life-saving prescription drug after a KARE 11 News investigation.
But the decision has some people asking how often we’re being overcharged on other medicines.
Curt’s Story
It started with Curt Burshem.
Back in November he told us CVS Caremark had jacked up the price for a prescription drug a family member needed for a kidney disorder.
Curt Burshem discovered that CVS was overcharging him on prescription drugs.
"When I see a company doing this crap, it makes me insane,” he said.
But, now, CVS has reversed the price high.
"Justice had been served,” Curt told us.
When Curt originally went to the CVS pharmacy in Maple Grove last Spring, the initial 30-day supply cost about $.87 per pill.
But when he followed his insurance company’s advice and ordered a 90-day supply through the mail, CVS Caremark increased the price to more than $6 a pill.
After KARE 11 called CVS they rolled the price back and gave Curt a refund.
Which raises the question: If transparency proponents were intellectually honest (some are, most are not) they would demand the same openness from every health care institution that shapes access to and the price of medicines.
Will PBMs and insurers reveal how they move from drugs that they acquire at 40-60 percent below pharmacy retail prices to charging consumers 30 percent of that retail price?
Will PBMs and insurers reveal how and why they decide when their customers are forced to fail first on medicines?
We need to know. They claim drug costs are climbing at an unsustainable rate. That doesn’t square with data since 2000, spending on drugs has remained at 9-10 percent or HHS projections that overall drugs will remain at about 9 percent of total health spending through 2030. So why are copays and co-insurance rates increasing??
Will hospitals reveal how they go from drugs acquired at the same rate to charging up to 700 percent of retail prices? And while they are at it, will they explain why charges for hospital care increased faster than drugs, even as the use of these new medicines reduce hospital costs? Why has hospital spending increased 6 times faster than drug spending between 2010-2013?
If I am a pharmaceutical company, I’d be for transparency for everyone. I’d show them mine, if they showed theirs. Let’s have the Full Monty for all.
