MedBen Rx Blog
MedBen Rx, Truly Transparent
If you’re a MedBen client, you already know that 100% of all paid manufacturer rebates go back to our clients. But true Rx transparency also demands that consumers know what they're paying for their medications – and so we provide that, too. Simply by logging into our...
Government Talks about Rx Costs, But MedBen Already Has Solutions
During recent testimony to a Senate committee, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar floated the idea of eliminating the rebates that drug companies and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) use in price negotiations. As noted on Bloomberg.com, "PBMs have been...
MedBen Rx Strategies Help Employers Face Pricing Challenges
A recent Washington Post article highlights the machinations that drug companies will use to ensure that insurers and other private-sector sources pay for their products, rather than price-controlled public services like Medicare. One common manufacturer practice is...
Rx Rebate Guarantees? Beware!
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...
MedBen Rx Advocate Closes the Price Gap
Newly appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says he wants to see greater transparency in drug pricing. In an address to the Federation of American Hospitals last month, Azar noted that “in both healthcare services and pharmaceuticals, the huge gaps...
Zaenger Outlines Benefits of “Cost Plus” Difference, Offers Rx Plan Suggestions
A featured speaker at several of this year's MedBen University sessions is pharmaceutical consultant Allan Zaenger, President of Pharmaceutical Horizons. At recent roundtables, Zaenger outlined plan design options employers should consider to reduce prescription costs...
Study Reveals Opioids No More Effective Than Safer Alternatives
Opioid painkillers usually make the headlines because of their addictive dangers, rather than their therapeutic advantages. But now, new research has raised questions as to whether such benefits have been overstated. A year-long study of individuals suffering from...
The “Cost Plus” Approach to Rx Benefits
A recent New York Times article identifies a fundamental problem in the pricing of medicines in our health care system today: It is difficult to determine what “cost” is for a medicine. What a given pharmacy actually pays to stock a medicine in the pharmacy to sell...
A Note from Our Chairman and President
To our customers, consultants, and brokers: Welcome to 2018! For MedBen, the coming year carries a special significance, as we will celebrate our 80th anniversary in May. As with any benchmark anniversary, it gives us a chance to look back at how we’ve grown, and what...