United Health has announced that consumers will benefit from point-of-sale benefits, through its employer-sponsored plans. It has a target of covering 9 million customers at least.
The announcement made last year has been built upon, by bringing in the discount program at point-of-sale.
President Dan Schumacher of United Healthcare has said that this novel method is benefitting consumers directly, as they see concrete benefits with lower costs and better health from United Healthcare.
Usually, drug manufacturers inflate the drug price and consumers are not able to afford the high cost of medications to get the required treatment. But this innovative plant with employer partners has helped to benefit consumers directly, says Schumacher.
UnitedHealth says that it is able to provide consumers with lower cost by almost $130 on an average, per prescription through this rebate program.
Rivals of UnitedHealth like Cigna’s Express Script and Caremark unit from CVS health are offering plans to pass on the point of sale discount to customers from this year.
Pharmaceutical executives, however, say that the insurance companies are paid rebates which increase the cost of the prescription drugs. In 2018, Pfizer had paid rebates up to $12 billion, but the reduced costs have not reached the patients at all, says CEO Albert Bourla of Pfizer.
The innovative plan rolled out by UnitedHealth has been successful with OptumRX and employer partners to mitigate the high drug prices that are affecting consumers. With such efforts, the discount and rebate are utilized by employer clients directly at the point of sale or by reduced premiums for members.
John Prince, the CEO of OptumRx says that the expanded point-of-sale program has helped to reach consumers with discounts effectively.
Though the plan design has been provided to employer customers earlier, the present point of sale discount will help to accelerate the purpose. Existing members can adopt the plan when they have their contract renewed.
