‘Employers Haven’t a Clue How Their Drug Benefits Are Managed’

That is the title of a KFF article published last week. The results are based on KFF’s 2024 Employer Health Benefits Survey. They write:

For KFF’s survey of 2,142 randomly selected companies, officials from those with 500 or more employees were asked how much of the rebates negotiated by [pharmacy benefit managers] PBMs returned to the company as savings. About 19% said they received most of the rebates, 27% said some, and 16% said little. Thirty-seven percent of the respondents didn’t know.
While a larger percentage of officials from the largest companies said they got most or some of the rebates, the answers — and their contrast with the testimony of PBM leaders — reflect the confusion or ignorance of employers about what their drug benefit managers do, said survey leader Gary Claxton, a senior vice president at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.
“I don’t think they can ever know all the ways the money moves around because there are so many layers, between the wholesalers and the pharmacies and the manufacturers,” he said…

“Employers are generally frustrated by the lack of transparency into all the prices out there,” Claxton said. “They can’t actually know what’s true.”

Do you think PBMs lead to higher or lower pharmacy cost?