As members of Congress get back to business after the holidays, they seem to be poised to pass legislation that would address some of the abuses of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the middlemen who extract so much money from the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Agree. My hubby has to pay upfront $648 for his first refill for his band named medicine, Farigxa.
This is out outrageous! I am tired of using my savings to fund the profit of the three big insurance companies. We need healthcare for all and medicines for all. Take the profit out of healtcare.
First, thank you for the work/research you do and the eyes you have opened to these crooked and scamming PBMs. I worked in pharma R&D for 36 yrs and put up with people's negative opinions of pharma - Why are my drugs so expensive?? PBMs are like the dirty rotten underbelly of healthcare that no one knows about yet their profits are off-the-charts outsized. My big question is, What the hell do they actually do? What service do they provide? At least Pharma spends billions to develop new drugs and takes on enormous risk because of the high failure rate. What in God's name do the PBMs do??
If PBMs go away or are radically restructured, what will happen? Are they just rentiers, or do they have a function that will still have to be done by some entity? Another question--what is an alternative? I am a TRICARE beneficiary--retired military--and i know TRICARE negotiates with drug manufacturers for lower costs--as does the VA and the federal prison system. Would that model be a useful alternative to a PBM? I note that all my drugs come via mail order from Express Scrips, which has been the DoD contractor for decades for this.
Agree. My hubby has to pay upfront $648 for his first refill for his band named medicine, Farigxa.
This is out outrageous! I am tired of using my savings to fund the profit of the three big insurance companies. We need healthcare for all and medicines for all. Take the profit out of healtcare.
First, thank you for the work/research you do and the eyes you have opened to these crooked and scamming PBMs. I worked in pharma R&D for 36 yrs and put up with people's negative opinions of pharma - Why are my drugs so expensive?? PBMs are like the dirty rotten underbelly of healthcare that no one knows about yet their profits are off-the-charts outsized. My big question is, What the hell do they actually do? What service do they provide? At least Pharma spends billions to develop new drugs and takes on enormous risk because of the high failure rate. What in God's name do the PBMs do??
It's a national disgrace...Profit profit profit, all along the way, of for-profit healthcare, doesn't keep patient medical debt away.
A new systematic distribution model to bypass all this is the solution.
If PBMs go away or are radically restructured, what will happen? Are they just rentiers, or do they have a function that will still have to be done by some entity? Another question--what is an alternative? I am a TRICARE beneficiary--retired military--and i know TRICARE negotiates with drug manufacturers for lower costs--as does the VA and the federal prison system. Would that model be a useful alternative to a PBM? I note that all my drugs come via mail order from Express Scrips, which has been the DoD contractor for decades for this.
80 year old generics cost $100.00 per month.