This paradox exists because no matter how much of a discount an insurer or provider negotiates, most plans don’t pass the discount to patients. In fact, patient costs for medicines are increasing even while net drug manufacturer prices are decreasing. What the US system does poorly is sharing these negotiated savings with patients who use the medicines. Related: Editorial: Drug plan middle men under scrutiny Our market-based system is better than government-run systems at rewarding value, with the newest and most innovative drugs having fewer discounts to reward inventors for breakthroughs and older drugs having major discounts that substantially reduce costs to the system. Given that Lilly’s medicine prices have deflated for each of the past four years, it’s clear that our current health care system - while far from perfect - does a good job of flattening overall price growth. Last year, we discounted our medicines an average of 60 percent off the list price, with government-run programs like Medicaid and Medicare securing the best rates in the market.
While the VA’s strategy often achieves lower drug costs than those in Medicare Part D, the trade-off is less access due to the VA’s restrictive formularies.Īt Eli Lilly, one of America’s oldest medicine companies, about 98 percent of our sales in the United States are negotiated, resulting in significant savings to employers and American consumers. What many people don’t realize is that the US government, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, and America’s health plans already negotiate drug prices with manufacturers. Instead, policy makers need to focus on fixing broken health plan designs that shift too much cost to the sick in order to lower premiums for the healthy. Worse, government negotiation to set drug prices won’t address the root cause of the problem America’s seniors have when they buy medicine. offers half-price insulin in counter to cost pressure