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Meanwhile, Scott MacGregor, a spokesman for Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co., said rebate reform would be a 'win for patients' both in government health care and in the private sector. Lilly spokesman says drug rebate reform a 'win for patients' 'In the ongoing drug price debate, we have maintained a clear, unwavering position: achieving the lowest net cost for a prescription medication – whether through a rebate or a reduction in price – is best for our clients and their members,' Express Scripts said in a statement, just after Eli Lilly announced the company would be offering a reduced-price insulin. One of the large pharmacy benefit managers, Express Scripts, argues that pharmacy benefit managers advocate for lower drug costs for clients, but ultimately lowering prices is in the hands of drug companies.

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'Employers, insurers, and other plan sponsors are best positioned to choose how to structure the coverage they provide for their enrollees.' 'We are concerned that legislation designed to require a specific use for prescription drug rebates in private-sector health plans would dictate coverage options,' said JC Scott, the trade group’s president and CEO. The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association released a statement defending its involvement in the drug-supply chain, and said drug companies' 'pricing strategies are unrelated to the rebates they negotiate with PBMs.” Benefit manager trade group responds to Braun's billīraun’s benefit manager bill is getting pushback from the industry’s trade group. A study by the journal Health Affairs that tracked their cost from 2008-16 found that prices of oral brand-name drugs rose 9.2 percent a year and injectable brand-name drugs, 15.1 percent a year.īut making the issue complicated, drug companies and pharmacy benefit managers disagree on the root cause of the high drug costs.

Whatever the cause, drug prices have been rising for years. Pharmaceutical economics experts say his proposals could potentially lower health costs, though it's unclear by how much.

Executives from Big Pharma testifying before Congress last week said such firms, including Express Scripts and CVS Health, play a large role in rising prices, and the Trump administration released a proposal earlier this year that would require any discounts such companies negotiate for Medicare and Medicaid be applied to a drug's list price. This industry has been in the crosshairs this year. Some of those discounts may get passed on to the consumer, but critics say pharmacy benefit managers often pocket the profits from those rebates, since they don't have to disclose what deals they are offered by drug companies.

The bill in question from the Indiana Republican targets the role of large companies called pharmacy benefit managers, which are offered rebates by pharmaceutical companies as they negotiate which drugs are covered by insurance. Mike Braun waded into the national debate over high prescription drug prices this week with legislation that would end a nontransparent practice that critics say contributes to their spiraling cost.