Secret Rebates: Why Patients Pay $600 for Drugs That Cost $300
- Health plans get the benefits even when consumers pay the bill
- ‘It’s outrageous,’ says mother of 13-year-old needing insulin
Why Do Drug Prices Keep Going Up?
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Robyn Curtis, a staff adviser at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, has a 13-year-old daughter with diabetes. Each month, the girl’s insulin pump requires three vials of NovoLog-brand insulin, which cost $890 under her plan, Curtis says. Her daughter’s insurance has a $2,600 deductible.
So Curtis was beside herself when she learned that NovoLog offers rebates -- almost always paid to insurance companies and drug-benefit managers, not patients -- that might have cut the out-of-pocket cost in half earlier this year.