It provides educational materials to enrollees and encourages appropriate prescribing practices by physicians. Dose Optimization - which simplifies the dosing regiment for patients and capitalizes on cost savings of taking one pill versus two. If the brand drug is dispensed at the enrollee request, the enrollee pays the difference between the cost of the generic and brand, in addition to the normal co-pay. This is not an exhaustive list, but will give you a feel for some of what we feel are important components of a well-managed pharmacy plan. I would be remiss if I did not tell you that regardless of the efforts discussed above, we are extremely concerned about our continuing ability to provide the kind of prescription drug coverage that our people have come to expect.
Prescription drugs are the most inflationary component of our health care costs.
Future costs are projected to increase at even more alarming rates. Prescription drugs do not operate according to the traditional free-market model. Consumerism is limited. Other practices that are a concern include unwarranted patent extensions and pharmaceutical manufacturers' pricing practices in the U.S., compared to their practices in Europe and Japan, or even other countries in North America. These factors impose unnecessary costs which, in turn, have a negative impact on competitiveness of U.S. firms which provide prescription drug coverage.