Build in ways to save on prescription drugs

Prescription medicine can be expensive. And the costs keep going up — for you and your employees.

There are ways to lower your plan costs without giving up the quality coverage you and your employees want, need and expect.

Make sure your pharmacy plan coverage offers these little ways to save big.

Start thinking generic

Generic drugs are required by law to have the same quality, strength, purity and stability as brand-name drugs.1 And they often cost a lot less.

Look for plans that encourage employees to begin thinking generic — to start talking to their doctor about whether a generic drug might work for them.

Take a "tiered" approach. With tiers, employees will generally pay a lower copayment if they use a generic — and a higher copayment for a brand-name drug.
Waive the copay. Look for a program that eliminates the copay for a certain period of time, say six months, if an employee switches to certain generic alternatives.

Consider preferred drugs

A Preferred Drug List (also known as a formulary) contains hundreds of generic and brand-name drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This list of covered drugs is based on input from many different health care specialists and on other factors, including cost.

You do not need to limit coverage to only preferred drugs. But the list, in combination with a tiered copay approach, can add up to savings.

When they see the money they can save, employees may start talking to their doctor about prescribing preferred drugs. In turn, you save because the drugs on the Preferred Drug List are generally less expensive.

Encourage mail-order delivery

Medications that people take on a regular basis make up a big portion of total prescription drug spending.

A mail-order option and a specialty pharmacy are key ways to save on medications. They can make it more convenient and affordable:

To fill prescriptions for people who take medicine regularly for arthritis, asthma, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions.
To get specialty medications to people with complex conditions like multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, anemia or cancer.

Look for a plan that will encourage employees to make the switch — from retail to mail order or specialty pharmacy. Consider increasing copays after the first, second or third refill at a neighborhood pharmacy.

Your employees will begin to connect a retail pharmacy with higher copays — and mail order or specialty pharmacy with lower out-of-pocket costs.
Your bottom line may start to rebound.

Build buy-in

Take a look at your current pharmacy plan. Reach out to your pharmacy account manager about which cost-saving features might make sense for you.

Then take the time to educate your employees about them. Knowing about the money-saving features in your plan — and how to use them — will make it easier for employees to give it a try.

And when employees start taking advantage of those built-in features, you both can benefit!