MedBen Rx Blog
Prescription Drug Spending Surges in 2024, Led by GLP-1s
Prescription drug spending in the U.S. climbed 10.2% in 2024, reaching nearly $806 billion, according to a report from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. A significant portion of this growth is attributed to the rapid rise of...
Momentum Grows Against PBM-Owned Pharmacies
On April 16, Arkansas became the first state to ban pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from acquiring an interest in – or otherwise directly or indirectly holding a permit for the retail sale of – prescription drugs, including mail-order...
REMINDER: Stelara Biosimilar Available through MedBen Rx
Earlier this month, MedBen Rx clients and their brokers were emailed about an opportunity to receive preferred pricing for the biosimilar for the anti-inflammatory medication Stelara. Depending on the dosage, this biosimilar can reduce the cost of the medication by...
JPMorgan Sued for Allowing Inflated Drug Prices through its PBM
Current and former employees are suing the financial services firm JPMorgan for allowing inflated drug prices through its partnership with pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) CVS Caremark. The plaintiffs claim that poor PBM oversight led to unnecessarily high prescription...
Need to Submit a RxDC Report? MedBen Has You Covered
As you may recall, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA) requires group health plans to submit to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services information about prescription drugs and health care spending. This data submission is called RxDC (for...
Benefit Preservation Helps Lower Specialty Drug Spend
High-cost specialty drugs can make up more than 60% of a health plan’s pharmacy costs. MedBen Rx’s benefit preservation program is designed to make certain that members have continued access to medications while reducing specialty drug spend to the greatest...
MedBen Benefits Advisory Conference Explores the State of the Industry
Over 70 guests from seven states attended the MedBen 2025 Benefits Advisory Conference on January 30. Featuring some of the most respected names in the industry, this invitation-only event provided brokers with an extensive look at the state of benefits...
Manage Drug Spend and Improve Outcomes with Pharmacogenomics
Now available through MedBen Rx, pharmacogenomic testing is transforming health care through safer and more effective personalized medicine. Determining how genes affect a person’s response to drugs not only improves patient outcomes, but it also helps control...
Major PBMs Pocketed Nearly $9 Billion through Specialty Drug Pricing Practices, FTC Finds
Through specialty generic drug markups, three major pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) earned a collective $7.3 billion above estimated acquisition costs over a five-year period, according to an interim report released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)....
Drugmakers Raising Prices on Over 250 Medications in Early 2025
Pharmaceutical companies are planning to increase prices on over 250 brand-name medications in the United States at the beginning of 2025, according to an analysis by health care research firm 3 Axis Advisors. That's a notable drop from last January, during which more...
Optimize Your Health through Nutrigenomic Testing
Nutrigenomic testing, available through MedBen Rx, analyzes an individual’s genetic makeup to understand how their genes influence their response to nutrition, diet, and lifestyle factors. As the list below shows, the wealth of information uncovered through...
Rise in Obesity Drug Use Leads to Drop in More Effective Surgical Alternative
Bariatric surgeries to treat obesity dropped 25.6% from 2022 to 2023, while prescriptions for GLP-1 drugs more than doubled during that period, according to a new study of privately insured Americans with obesity. However, those who opt for the surgery are...