Pharmacies feeling effects from drug savings plan

The federal government aimed at reducing prescription drug costs, and KFF Health News reported on some unintended consequences. Previous drug pricing appears to have included financial incentives to pharmacies, allowing pharmacies to accept lower prices for various medications -- perhaps even prices that were below the cost of those medications. However, as regulation has tried to make pharmaceutical pricing more transparent (for example, removing rebates), some pharmacies appear to now be stuck in the position of no longer receiving the pharmacy incentives and therefore losing money when selling certain medications for certain plans. Some such pharmacies have opted to not stock some of those unprofitable medications.

Presumably, legislators did not intend for pharmacies to lose money on such medications, although some pharmacists likely pointed out what would probably happen. Nevertheless, this issue seems like it would be resolved for the long-term by pharmacies renegotiating with payers so that reimbursement for those medications would exceed the product cost. Although there is some short-term inconvenience, this movement towards more transparent pricing will likely benefit payers and patients in the long run.