Insurers to Disclose Drug Copays, Treatment Terms Under Proposal - Bloomberg Law

Mike Strazzella, head of the firm's Federal Government Relations Practice Group, weighs in on the Trump administration's proposal that would require insurance companies to disclose the amount that patients would have to pay for prescriptions in Bloomberg Law's article "Insurers to Disclose Drug Copays, Treatment Terms Under Proposal." Mike's thoughts include:

That would be a change from now. However, patients may still not have those real-time conversations with doctors about what they’re paying for drugs, Mike Strazzella, leader of the federal government relations department at Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, said.

List prices are irrelevant to most people because they only pay for part of their drugs. They want to know how much will be coming out of their pockets, Strazzella said.

To parse out the specific costs of drugs in these types of payment models would be difficult both in the process and in the ability of the patient to understand, Strazzella said.

Knowing when a service will require prior authorization empowers consumers, but that information is already available if people call their insurance companies, Strazzella said.

Another challenge will be figuring out what a drug costs based on when a patient is eligible for refills, a standard part of an insurance plan, Strazzella said. For example, if an EpiPen goes bad, can a patient get a new one sooner? Will the cost information take that into account?