The health insurance industry trade association AHIP launched a nationwide advertising campaign Monday to rekindle a public controversy with pharmaceutical companies over prescription drug costs.
According to a press release and spokesperson for the association, “Health Insurance Companies Are Your Bargaining Power” begins the 30-second commercial that AHIP is spending “seven figures” on air. on television and social media until the end of the year. In the ad, AHIP urges viewers to “Reject Big Pharma’s Rx distraction.” The industry group said it has also placed ads with publications of Capitol Hill in Washington, DC
Drug manufacturers, represented by Research Pharmaceuticals and Manufacturers of America, also criticized health insurance companies and drug benefit regulators for increasing the amount that patients have to pay. pay for drugs. “They play a role in keeping costs down, but there is little evidence that the fruits of their efforts actually translate into lower costs for consumers,” said President and CEO. of PhRMA Stephen Ubl said at an event sponsored by The Hill newspaper in Washington last month.
Drug manufacturers and insurers are natural competitors in the market and have debated in and out of public view for decades as drug prices continue to rise, along with premiums and costs. self-pay, and the patient looks for the culprit to blame.
Health insurance companies rely on pharmacy benefit managers to assemble prescription drug formulations and to control costs. The three largest PBMs, accounting for 80% of the overall market share, are linked to insurance companies after many years of consolidation: CVS Caremark and Aetna are subsidiaries of CVS Health; Express Scripts is a subsidiary of Cigna; and OptumRx and UnitedHealthcare are subsidiaries of UnitedHealth Group. Aetna and Cigna are AHIP members but UnitedHealth Group is not.
This latest AHIP effort comes as PBMs are coming under increasing scrutiny from lawmakers, regulators and law enforcement agencies at the state and federal levels. The specifics of these questions vary, but the core question is whether PBMs conduct drug pricing transactions that benefit themselves rather than patients.
AHIP declined to comment and would not provide further information about its ad campaign, such as its budget or where and when the video will appear.
