MedBen Rx Blog
Overprescribing Drugs Raises Costs, Health Risks
The ongoing movement to reduce prescription drug spending focuses primarily on the cost factor. But as Shannon Brownlee and Judith Garber contend in a Stat opinion piece, overprescribing of drugs also carries financial and health risks. "Between 2000 and 2012, the...
Rx Spending Hikes Call for Smart Solutions
In just four years, U.S. retail prescription drug spending grew nearly 27%... a substantial increase that illustrates the need for pharmacy solutions like those available through MedBen Rx. A new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts found that annual spending on...
All MedBen Clients Can Benefit from Rx Solutions
MedBen Rx offers employers a better way to provide and manage prescription benefits, regardless of their size or industry type. Our pharmacy solutions counter inflated prescription list prices with common-sense reimbursement methods. Self-funded employers can take...
Government Fixes to Rx Prices a Slippery Slope
A recent Wall Street Journal editorial warns that government efforts to address prescription drug prices could produce undesirable consequences… and it's why MedBen Rx believes that market-driven solutions are the preferable method to reducing consumer costs. As the...
Biggest? Nope. Best? That’s the Goal.
High-profile health care companies continue to buy each other in an effort to be “biggest and best.” Meanwhile, MedBen continues to grow as it has for over 80 years... by providing clients with superior benefits management services. A quick recap: Anthem Health will...
While Titans Battle Over Drug Costs, MedBen Rx Offers Solutions
A recent high-profile disagreement between Walmart and pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) CVS Caremark exemplifies the friction between pharmacies and PBMs about prescription pricing... and the power that PBMs possess to influence drug costs. MedBen Rx was designed to...
Fight Back Against New Year’s Drug Price Increases
New year, higher drug prices. According to The Wall Street Journal, a representative analysis of major pharmaceutical companies found that the prices of their brand name and generic drugs have risen by an average of 6.3% in 2019 – modest compared to previous years,...
AWP Smoke and Mirrors
Drug pricing can be a confusing business… and much of the confusion stems from a drug’s average wholesale price, or AWP. On the surface, the AWP might seem to be… well, the average wholesale price or the average price of a drug. But the price to who? As...
MedBen Rx Tackles Brand-Name Increases
Modern Healthcare recently highlighted the growing disparity between brand-names and generics in relation to prescription drug spending. A new study finds that while total spending on generic drugs has declined, branded prescription drug spending continues to rise. In...
The Clear Solution to Rx Spending Trends
A New York Times article examines the dramatic rise in U.S. prescription drug costs over the past two decades. American drug spending was once on par with other wealthy countries, but between 1997 and 2007 our drug spending tripled... and took off again in 2013. How...
Generic Drugs: Effective and Cost-Efficient
As the prescribing of generic drugs has become more commonplace, most consumers have come to see that these medications work just as well as their pricier band-name equivalents. Indeed, when a generic alternative is available, MedBen clients see a 98% average...
MedBen Rx Solutions Put Transparency Up Front
In an effort to improve drug pricing transparency, the Department of Health and Human Services recently released a proposal requiring drug companies to include their list prices in consumer ads. But MedBen already provides far more transparent Rx solutions. Drug...