Eli Lilly CEO: Patients paying too much out of pocket for meds
Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said, “Patients are paying too much out of pocket” for prescription drugs.
“We have a drug price-increase problem to the patient,” he told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on Thursday. “Why? Because they are paying list prices and increasingly insurance design has patients paying full price for their medicines rather than the negotiated price that companies have with their insurance company.”
Ricks said Lilly is one of the few companies to actually pass savings on to their own employees. In his opinion, this is one way to lower drug costs, and more companies should do it.
“Today they negotiate the rebates but mostly don’t share them with patients,” he said. “This is something we do at our insurance, designed at Lilly for our employees.”
Additionally, Ricks said it can also be addressed on the federal level.
In May the Trump administration released plans to lower prescription drug prices and out-of-pocket costs.
Since then a number of pharmaceutical companies have taken steps to address drug costs.
In July Pfizer announced that it would delay scheduled price increases, and Novartis said it would freeze drug prices for the rest of the year.