Aetna will apply new pharmacy rebates at the time of sale for its insured members amid continuing outcries over high drug prices.
The decision to provide rebates comes after scrutiny from the Trump administration on how drugmakers and middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers negotiate rebates. Critics say consumers don’t benefit enough from the rebates.
Aetna said greater transparency is needed throughout the drug supply chain in response to “nearly 25 percent increase in drug prices between 2012 and 2016.”
“We have always believed that consumers should benefit from discounts and rebates that we negotiate with drug manufacturers,” Aetna CEO Mark T. Bertolini said in a statement. “Going forward, we hope this additional transparency will encourage these companies to rationalize their pricing and end the practice of annual double-digit price increases.”
Pharmacy benefit managers oversee employer-sponsored health plans and negotiate with drugmakers for rebates.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has criticized benefit managers in a series of speeches that question if enough of the benefits from the rebates trickle down to consumers.
Aetna said about three million of its members could benefit from the rebates when they fill a prescription.
