Currently, employers are challenged to provide quality, affordable health care to their employees and their families. Drug prices have skyrocketed. Specialty drugs or drugs that we need for things like chemotherapy are even more outrageous.
There are many drugs that we need to go to the hospital, doctor’s office or specialty facility to have administered. Chemo drugs and pain management medications are good examples of these. When you go there, you can be told that the medications are thousands of dollars. The hospital or facility has marked up the drugs by a large percentage to protect their bottom line. There are specialty pharmacies that can deliver these drugs in a timely and efficient manner for a more affordable price. This is called “white bagging."

However, health insurers and employers do not bully health care providers into using select medication provider. Instead, these employers and health insurers are forced to innovate to lower costs because hospitals are using their patients to create a profit, with little incentive to come to the table and negotiate lower prices. Specialty pharmacies are able to safely provide the same drugs at a much lower price with minimal or no markups, meaning that patients and employers have lower costs.
A study by The Moran Company shows that 83% of hospitals charge patients and insurers more than double their acquisition cost for medicines. But shockingly, the analysis is even worse when more closely examined. One in ten hospitals markup drugs 900% or more, with 320 hospitals marking up medicines over 1000%. These markups are indefensible.
There is very real concern that our legislature is ready to move on bills that would prevent white bagging. Leaving patients and employers paying those ridiculous markups. Other states have already passed these types of laws and our state government is poised to be added to that list. We need to let our legislators know that we want choice and not be at the mercy of hospital over charging.
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