Pharmacy benefit managers say they have identified a way that the US could save more than $100bn over ten years.
The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association has written to members of the US Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction citing proposals that could also improve access to prescription drug benefits.
These include a modernisation of benefits provided by the US health programme Medicaid, expedition of the approval of biogenerics, suspension of the tax deduction for direct-to-consumer drug advertising and the banning of pay-for-delay drug settlements.
Medicaid currently uses fewer generic drugs, leading to drugstores receiving inflated dispensing fees in comparison to private insurers or the US health insurance programme Medicare. The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association believes that modernising the Medicaid pharmacy could save more than $21bn over the next decade.
