The escalating cost of prescriptions is a hard pill to swallow for employees. That’s because it’s becoming more common for prescription drug plans to shift the cost to participants. Then there’s the behind-the-scenes double Rx whammy: pharmaceutical companies increase prices and pharmacy benefit managers obscure the true cost of medications, causing more headaches for employees.
Employees also feel blindsided when the PBM adjusts its formulary or the plan sponsor moves participants to a high-deductible health plan. Rx sticker shock is on the rise. Consider the employee whose monthly copay of $20 for a generic drug skyrockets to 10 times that per month under an HDHP.
