A tsunami of healthcare costs is crashing into the budgets of U.S. businesses. Each new wave forces employers to devote more resources to healthcare and fewer to employee wages, benefits, and investments for growth. Beyond the workplace, families already struggling with affordability are facing higher costs and difficult choices about the care they can afford.
At the center of the storm are prescription drugs, which now make up more than 25% of total employer healthcare spending. As leaders of The ERISA Industry Committee, which represents employers providing health benefits to tens of millions of workers, and the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, representing the companies that design and administer their pharmacy benefits, our organizations come at this issue from different perspectives, but we agree that we spend far too much on prescription drugs.
