Illustration: Sarah Grillo / Axios

One of the primary functions of a pharmacy benefit manager is to negotiate rebates from the list prices of prescription drugs. In return for the rebates, PBMs agree to cover those medications and make it easier for people to access them. PBMs then pass along the savings to the employers and health plans that hire them, of...

(posted by The Washington Post)

President Trump on May 11 announced his plan to lower prescription drug prices. (Reuters)

President Trump will break another promise Friday afternoon when he unveils his plan for lowering the cost of prescription drugs, backing off his campaign trial pledge to use the government's power to negotiate them for Medicare.

And that...

What one city did to fight high drug prices reveals a drug supply chain in which just about every link can benefit when prices go up

The Rockford File is the story of how one very expensive prescription drug threatened to financially cripple an entire city. That city is Rockford, Illinois, an old industrial town outside of Chicago. Rather than using a heal...

Pharmacists can discuss payments, cash price

Anna Wolfe
 

Mississippi Clarion Ledger USA TODAY NETWORK

If you have a copay, chances are you've overpaid for a prescription at some point.

That's because an insurance copay can be more expensive than the cash price of the drug — more expensive than if you'd had no insurance and paid out of pocket.

And because of '...

Express Scripts manages drug benefits for employers. Photo: Whitney Curtis / Bloomberg via Getty Images

A contract template used by Express Scripts, the largest pharmacy benefit manager in the U.S., provides a window into how pharmacy benefit managers — middlemen that manage drug coverage for businesses throughout the country — steer negotiations with drug...

Goal is to improve U.S. employee satisfaction while reducing overall costs

SEATTLE & OMAHA, Neb. & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) announced today that they are partnering on ways to address healthcare for their U.S. employees, with the aim of improving employee...

Speculation grows that company will sell prescription medicines and drive down prices

Amazon has become increasingly interested in healthcare in recent months, holding meetings with industry executives © FT montage / Dreamstime / EPA

The US healthcare industry has become gripped in recent months by the possibility that Amazon will start selling prescription...

• A Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical unit focused on the development of hepatitis C research said it will end its program amid a crowded market.

• Janssen Sciences Ireland cited the increasing availability of a number of highly effective therapies addressing the medical need.

Getty Images

Shares of biotech company Achillion Pharmaceuticals were more...

Prescription drugs being prepared for shipping at an OptumRX plant in Carlsbad, Calif. Credit J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times

Regardless of whether Congress enacts health care reform, the private sector isn’t waiting. Health care for our employees is too expensive, and the employer-based system must be reformed.

More Americans — 146 million people,...