“A key tool that businesses have counted on to keep a lid on employees’ drug spending—filling workers’ prescriptions by mail—is now driving up their costs,” Jared S. Hopkins writes over at The Wall Street Journal. “Unity Care NW, a nonprofit health clinic in Washington state, forecasts the cost of medical and drug benefits for its 365 employees and their family members will increase this year by 25% to more than $3 million. A big reason: Drugs delivered by mail are costing multiples more than those picked up at a store counter. Markups were as much as 35 times higher than what other pharmacies charged, according to a recent analysis of millions of prescriptions in Washington state. ‘It’s absolutely not fair, and it’s not saving us money,’ said Lisa Nelson, Unity Care’s chief pharmacy officer. At the urging of firms that manage their drug benefits, employers have turned to mail-order pharmacies to save money on prescriptions. The pharmacies promised to sell medicines to employees at lower prices than their bricks-and-mortar rivals by buying larger quantities from drugmakers and providing 90-day supplies. Instead, the opposite is happening. Drugs ordered through the mail-order pharmacies are costing more, raising employers’ spending. That is partly because of price markups on prescriptions filled by mail-order pharmacies—especially those owned by the pharmacy-benefit managers, or PBMs, themselves—according to employers and consultants who have reviewed businesses’ drug spending.” Jared S. Hopkins, “Mail-order drugs were supposed to keep costs down. It’s doing the opposite,” The Wall Street Journal.
