Gag clauses prevent pharmacists from telling patients when cash payment for a drug may be cheaper than their insurance copay. The letter is part of President Donald Trump’s “American Patients First” initiative, an effort to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
“Many patients don’t know that some drugs are actually more expensive when they use their insurance. What’s worse is that some pharmacy benefits managers are preventing pharmacists from telling patients when this is happening, because they get a share of the transaction when the patient uses their insurance,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “Today we are taking a significant step towards bringing full transparency to all the back-end deals that are being made at the expense of patients.”
More articles on payer issues:
NYC Health + Hospitals now in-network for Empire BCBS Medicaid patients
BCBS of Massachusetts blames federal taxes for $97.2M operating loss
Trump’s health insurance plan could inflate federal spending $38.7B over next decade
