Patients Pay Less
America’s biopharmaceutical companies agree that for too many patients, our health care system is not working. While medical innovation has made the United States a world leader in the discovery of new medicines, these treatments won’t benefit patients who can’t afford them.
There are no easy solutions, but patients need real leadership from everyone involved in our health care system to make it work better. That’s why our companies are calling for everyone in the health care system to join us in supporting common-sense reforms to make insurance work like insurance and ensure that patients can access and afford the medicines their doctors prescribe.
As lawmakers are in states across the country are considering ways to ease the burden on patients, we believe the following policies are the best way to ensure patients pay less for their medicines.
Share the Savings
On average, biopharmaceutical companies rebate 40% of a medicine’s list price back to health insurance and pharmacy benefit managers, but these discounts are not reaching patients. If these discounts and coupons are available for insurance companies and other middlemen, then they also need to be available to patients at the pharmacy counter.
Offer Lower, More Predictable Cost-Sharing Options
Patients should have more choices when it comes to their medicine coverage. Spending on brand medicines is growing at the slowest rate in years, but insurers are using high deductibles, coinsurance and formulary tiers that result in patients paying more out of pocket at the pharmacy counter.
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