prescription drug costs News

Massachusetts Governor Wants to Expand Mental Health Services, Lower Drug Costs

Gov. Charlie Baker unveiled a bill Tuesday that he said would help expand access to primary care and mental health services and help control rising health care and prescription drug costs. The Republican detailed the legislation during a stop at …

Massachusetts Senate Weighs Bill to Lower Prescription Drug Prices for Patients

A bill aimed at addressing the increasing costs of prescription drugs is scheduled to come up for a vote in the Massachusetts Senate this week. The legislation would establish a process for identifying drug price thresholds that pose a public …

Biden’s Proposed Inflation Cap on Drug Prices Includes Private Insurance Plans

Workers and families with private health insurance would reap savings on prescription drugs from a little-noticed provision in President Joe Biden’s sweeping social agenda bill. It’s meant to break the cycle of annual price increases for widely used medicines. That …

Large Private Employer Coalition Creates Pharmacy Benefit Management Firm

A nonprofit coalition of nearly 40 private employers, including U.S. retailers Walmart and Costco, said on Monday it has launched a new company that would offer pharmacy benefit management (PBM) services for employers. With the COVID-19 pandemic weighing severely on …

Pass Measures to Lower Prescription Drug Prices, Biden Urges Congress

President Joe Biden on Thursday called on U.S. lawmakers to enact legislation aimed at lowering drug prices, including allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices and imposing penalties on drugmakers that hike prices faster than inflation. The Democratic president’s remarks laid …

Drugmakers Begin New Year by Raising Prices

Drugmakers including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Gilead Sciences Inc., and Biogen Inc. hiked U.S. list prices on more than 50 drugs on Wednesday, bringing total New Year’s Day drug price increases to more than 250, according to data analyzed by healthcare …

Trump Administration Halts Plan to Sideline Pharmacy Benefit Managers

The White House abandoned a push to end rebates paid to middlemen who negotiate drug prices on behalf of health insurers, a move that could turn scrutiny back on how drugmakers themselves set prices. President Donald Trump has made lowering …

Doctors, Insurer Propose Tracking Patients’ ‘Social Conditions’ for Referrals

If you get struck by lightning or bitten by a pig, a physician can record that information with a code shorter than your phone number. But if you can’t afford your bills, doctors and health plans have no consistent way …

Big Pharma Resuming U.S. Price Hikes in January After Pause: Reuters Report

Novartis AG and Bayer AG are among nearly 30 drugmakers that have taken steps to raise the U.S. prices of their medicines in January, ending a self-declared halt to increases made by a pharma industry under pressure from the Trump …

Co-Pay Tactic by Benefit Managers Credited with Cutting Prescription Drug Prices

A recently adopted tactic by U.S. health plans to limit the financial assistance drugmakers provide directly to consumers for prescription medicines is taking a toll on drug prices, according to a new analysis released on Tuesday. Real U.S. drug prices, …