Dive Brief:
- Employees are shouldering an escalating portion of the cost for medications in the nongeneric prescription drug tiers in today's benefits packages, according to new research.
- The study, Special Report Trends in Prescription Drug Benefits, from United Benefit Advisors (UBA), found that 44% of employers offer four or more prescription drug tiers in their plans, including a tier for expensive specialty or biotech drugs, SHRM reports.
- That fourth tier has significantly higher co-pays, so employers can pass along more of the cost of these drugs to workers and their families.
Dive Insight:
Scott Deru, president of Layton, Utah-based Fringe Benefit Analysts, a UBA partner firm, told SHRM that the market will continue to adapt and, in fact, it is already seeing the advent of six-tier prescription drug plans.
UBA's report also found that employers are using other cost-containment strategies—such as blended co-pay/co-insurance models and penalties for brand-name drugs—as part of their effort to control the soaring costs of specialty pharmacy drugs.
"As more specialty pharmacy drugs are coming onto the market with high price tags, we will continue to see premiums rise, along with increased co-pays or co-insurance for prescriptions, shifting more costs onto consumers," Carol Taylor, director of compliance at D & S Agency, a UBA partner firm in Roanoke, Va., told SHRM. "Watch for this trend to continue, as well as raising co-pays and out-of-pocket costs for medications."
With employers trying hard to attract talent, it's a tough balancing act when they need to shift more costs to employees and their families. It would seem that they should tread carefully when considering those types of strategies.