MedBen Rx Blog
Employers Weighing the Obesity Drug Question
While most health plans do not currently cover obesity medications like Wegovy and Zepbound – and MedBen Rx recommends clients continue not to do so – constant media coverage means the calls to do so will only grow. Therefore, employers are increasingly considering...
Freeman Retires after 36 Years with MedBen; Harden Elected Chairman, Fraker Named President
At the recent Annual Meeting for MedBen, Doug Freeman, who for over 36 years served as President and later Chairman of Medical Benefits Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MedBen), retired from the Board of Directors. At the same meeting, Kurt Harden, previously MedBen's...
MedBen Client 2023 Federal CAA Required Pharmacy Submission Complete
You might remember that the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA) requires all health plans to file a pharmacy data report annually to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Each year, the Prescription Drug Data Collection reporting (RxDC)...
High-Cost Diabetes Drugs Increasingly Prescribed for Weight Loss
At recent MedBen University roundtables, MedBen President & CEO Kurt Harden examined how the growing public awareness of two diabetes drugs with a desirable side effect – significant weight loss – means that these $1,000-per-month medications are not always being...
Humira Biosimilar Program Sees Over $3 Million in Annualized Client Savings
Last year, MedBen Rx announced a new program that would enable clients to purchase Idacio, a biosimilar version of the anti-inflammatory therapy Humira – a drug that typically costs between $6,000 and $12,000 per month depending on the dose – for under $1,000 per...
Looking for Total Transparency and Lower Costs in Pharmacy Benefits?
Employers are turning away from the "big three" pharmacy benefits managers to other PBMs that offer greater transparency and lower costs, says Wharton professor of health care management Lawton Robert Burns. As one of those alternatives, MedBen Rx is bringing...
Comparative Effectiveness Maximizes Drug Savings by Maximizing Clinical Value
At January's Benefits Advisory Conference, MedBen President & CEO Kurt Harden observed that when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) evaluates a new drug to be approved for sale, it has to be safe and effective, but not necessarily superior to what's already on...
MedBen Benefits Advisory Conference Highlights Health Plan Innovations
MedBen recently had the honor to welcome some of the most respected names in the benefits management industry. At the invitation-only 2024 Benefits Advisory Conference on January 26, attending brokers learned about health plan innovations that will help self-funded...
Tackle Specialty Drugs with MedBen Rx’s Benefit Preservation Program
A recent Segal Health Plan Cost Trend Survey projects 2024 cost trend for prescription drugs to approach 10%... but specialty drug trend alone may reach 15% this year, as increased use of expensive drugs continues to drive costs up. (We've actually seen specialty drug...
500+ Drugs Will See Price Increases in January
Pfizer, Sanofi, Takeda Pharmaceutical, and other drugmakers will raise the prices of more than 500 drugs in early January, according to an analysis by health care researchers 3 Axis Advisors. Inflation and rising manufacturing costs will contribute to the price...
ACI Drug Pricing Beats the PBM “Spread”
Spread pricing is the difference between what pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) charge health plans for drugs and what the pharmacy actually pays for them. Often, this “spread” can be substantial, as PBMs profit greatly from their lack of transparency… so it’s not...
A High-Value Approach to Lowering Rx Spend
MedBen Rx's expanded pharmacy solutions offer a variety of ways to reduce your prescription drug spend... including appropriateness solutions that use clinical-based research to recommend the most effective drugs to your plan members. Comparative effectiveness...