Mark Lennihan/AP
- Pharmaceutical CEOs and executives from seven companies are going in front of Congress on Tuesday to testify about the high price of prescription drugs.
- Through the course of the Senate hearing, the drugmakers are likely going to shift the blame for high prices onto other parts of the healthcare industry.
- From when the drug is made to when you pick it up at the pharmacy counter, there can be as many as five companies involved.
- Here’s a look at who pays for a medication and why that can lead to higher prices.
When it comes to the high price of prescription drugs, there’s a lot of blame to go around.
For a single prescription drug, there are often five companies involved, from development all the way to your medicine cabinet. Those include the drugmaker, wholesaler, pharmacy, pharmacy benefit manager, and your insurer. Each company makes a tidy profit along the way. And as prices increase, so do those profits.
On Tuesday, CEOs and executives from seven pharmaceutical companies are testifying at a Senate hearing about the role they play in setting high drug prices that patients increasingly are on the hook for. In the US, Drugmakers ultimately set the list price of their medication, which they can increase at their discretion.
List prices for pharmaceutical have been increasing over the past decade. But many drug companies have said that net prices — which factor in discounts and rebates negotiated by pharmacy benefit managers on behalf of employers and insurers — have increased far less, or even declined.
They say consumers are paying high out-of-pocket costs for their drugs because of policies set by insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, likely a refrain that will come up often in Tuesday’s hearing.
Here’s an example of how drug prices get set, based on a monthly prescription with a list price of $100 a month for a person with a commercial insurance plan that covers all but a $20 co-pay.
Skye Gould/Business Insider
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- The Trump administration just took its biggest step yet to bring down the cost of prescription drugs — and it’s dividing the healthcare industry
- Congress will grill 7 top pharma executives over the high cost of drugs today. Here’s how they’re set to shift the blame.
- Here’s why Big Pharma is cheering a new proposal from the Trump administration that’s supposed to tackle high drug prices
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Source: Business Insider – lramsey@businessinsider.com (Lydia Ramsey)