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Companies Save on Generic Drug Costs Under Wellpoint Plan
Reuters reported that big employers would have a zero copay for the generic equivalents and smaller employers would get up to a $10 copayment discount, under the plan by WellPoint Health Networks Inc.
WellPoint said that it would also refund the full price of a drug’s cheaper counterpart to encourage its 13 million members to switch to generic versions of popular medications such as Eli Lilly & Co.’s Prozac and Merck & Co. Inc.’s Mevacor, according to the Reuters story.
WellPoint says about 50% of its members already use generic drugs when faced with a choice of a brand name and a copycat version.
Soaring prescription drug prices, a key driver of double-digit growth in medical inflation, is weighing on the health care system and employers’ bottom lines.