My employer offers a pretty good selection of health-care coverage. Four HMO choices and six PPO choices. I used to get my prescriptions directly through the HMO I belong to. I've had no complaints over the last 10 years with them.
My employer's now "improving" prescription drug coverage. Result? Nearly doubling my out-of-pocket cost for prescription drugs.
I have asthma. I take three prescriptions monthly, and one periodically. One twice-daily drug is a name-brand drug that isn't available in generic form.
These drugs keep me breathing.
Monthly cost of prescriptions last year:
Name Brand: $10
Generic #1: $5
Generic #2: $5
Total cost: $20.
They raised co-payments in the last year.
Monthly cost of prescriptions now:
Name brand: $15
Generic #1: $10
Generic #2: $10
Periodic generic: $10
Most months only $35.The most I'd pay is $45.
"Improved" monthly cost:
Name brand: $35
Generic #1: $10
Generic #2: $10
Periodic generic: $10
New baseline: $55, occasionally $65.
Now that doesn't even entertain the possibility of out-of-plan name brand drugs. At $100 a pop, there's no way in hell I could afford them.
As it is, I'm going to have to have a talk with my doctor and let him know I'll probably only take my twice-daily name-brand prescription once a day, and may need to stop taking it entirely if the price goes up.
And I'm relatively healthy. I hate to think what my coworkers are paying. I don't understand why my employer sees it as an advantage. Workers that can't afford their medications are going to take more sick days and productivity will decline.
Increase in copayment: 100%+
Increase in salary: 4%
The math is broken. It's not sustainable. We need a solution. Now.