By Katelyn Bush and Kai Virani
Nowadays, it feels impossible to refill a prescription without emptying your wallet. Medication has never been more expensive— and patients with chronic conditions feel the brunt of these price hikes. Specialty drugs for ailments like cancer and rheumatoid arthritis can cost over $1000 per month, representing a whopping fifty percent of drug spending in the United States. Confronted with such outrageous prices, some patients have resorted to halving pills, skipping doses or canceling their prescriptions altogether. To these patients, navigating the healthcare system is a case of choosing the lesser of two evils: They can either receive treatment and sink into debt, or save money and risk their well-being.
In these instances, both plan members and the plan itself suffer. This is why employers turn to prescription advocacy services like Rx Help Centers to secure financial assistance for high-cost medications. In many cases, plan members are eligible for Patient Assistance Programs (PAPs), charitable foundations or grants that provide uninsured and underinsured patients with life-saving medications at little-to-no cost. Using this strategy, Rx Help Centers has saved members tens of thousands in monthly prescription fees. Writes a patient with leukemia: “The medication that was prescribed for me costs more than $16,000 [per] month… I have insurance to help with that cost, but even then, I was responsible for thousands of dollars in deductibles and copays. Rx Help Centers was able to get my medication for free.” Such testimonies are, in a word, priceless.
What’s more, these programs incentivize patients to follow their medication regimens. Since Rx Help Centers removes the cost barrier to specialty drugs, plan members no longer need to halve pills and skip doses to avoid financial trouble. They are more likely to take their medications consistently, resulting in a higher quality of life— not to mention a lower risk of hospitalization. Scott Yancey, Vice President of Sales at Rx Help Centers, shares, “We use numerous sources to reduce the patients’ out of pocket expenses. Rx Help Centers works on all mediations and taps all cost saving sources. We are ethically driven to the right solution for each individual patient.” Employers, too, benefit from medication adherence; after all, a healthy workforce means less hefty hospital bills (and medical absences!). Most importantly, partnering with programs like Rx Help Centers sends a powerful message to employees. “Having this service available not only ensures that the employee is taken care of, but also shows that the employer wants the best outcome for their staff,” says Tiffany Reece, a clinical advocate with Connect Healthcare Collaboration with extensive experience guiding employees to the kinds of resources Rx Help Centers provides. Indeed, prescription advocacy programs don’t just cut costs for employers— they boost workplace morale.
Even when offered, plan members can be unaware such services are available through their employer, leading many to pay excessive out-of-pocket fees for specialty medications. Employees with non-chronic conditions miss out on savings, too. Although Rx Help Centers deals primarily with high-cost drugs, it also provides reduced-cost prescriptions for up to 35 percent of employees. Writes a patient with cystic acne: “I got my medicine that was $800 per month for $25.” These staggering cost reductions illustrate the importance of insurance awareness; had their employer not informed them about Rx Help Centers, this patient may have exhausted their resources securing medical care. Reece continues, “People are surprised to learn what coverage they have through employer-sponsored health care coverage— that’s why raising awareness is so important. With advocacy, we’ve seen employee utilization of benefits increase by 56 percent. That’s huge.”
Huge, indeed. Everyone wins when plan members recognize their benefits: Employees save on prescriptions, and employers cut down on costly hospital visits and health-related absences. And with assistance from Rx Help Centers, both parties can maximize savings: “Our company… taps [into] more cost saving sources while providing the greatest return in the industry,” says Scott. Evidenced by patient testimonies, these remarkable price cuts alleviate stress and empower plan members to take control of their health, leading to a happier, healthier workforce. Plan members no longer dread hearing “out-of-pocket costs;” their employer’s got them covered.
To learn more about Rx Help Centers, check out The Granite List today.
