At a recent MedBen University event, MedBen Vice President of Sales & Marketing Brian Fargus warned attendees against drug rebate guarantees that promise a lot but deliver little… and end up costing the employer more.
“Some of the larger health care companies focus on getting as many rebates as possible and selling you on a guarantee of ‘per employee per month’ rebate savings,” Fargus said. But the only way to meet that guarantee is to encourage the use of the most expensive drugs, by placing them in your formulary’s preferred drug category. Meanwhile, lower cost equivalents that don’t offer rebates are considered “non-preferred” drugs, even when they cost less than a so-called “discounted” drug.
Fargus likened guaranteed rebates to a drugstore’s toothpaste aisle, in which Brand A offers a coupon and Brand B doesn’t… but even after the discount is applied, Brand A still costs more than Brand B. “The savings look good, but you still end up paying more,” he observed.
“Bottom line, you can go broke chasing rebates,” Fargus added.
MedBen opts for a different approach to pharmacy plan savings. While we return 100% of all paid rebates to the client, we don’t go looking for the rebate. Rather, we find the lowest net cost in every drug class, and help you point your plan members to those drugs.
And rebate transparency is just one way MedBen reduces your pharmacy costs. Our new MedBen Rx Advocate program eschews the standard industry practice of using a drug’s average wholesale price (AWP) as the starting price point in favor of the acquisition cost index (ACI)… the true price the pharmacy pays with no inflated mark-ups.
MedBen offers real savings on your pharmacy costs, with no gimmicks or artificial guarantees. To learn more, contact Fargus at bfargus@medben.com.