EpiPen Maker Quietly Steers Effort That Could Protect Its Price
[...] The idea being advanced is simple: If the EpiPen makes the federal preventive list, most Americans would have no insurance co-pay when getting the product. That means they could obtain the medication with no direct cost, regardless of its retail price. Mylan could keep the EpiPen at the current price, or perhaps raise it more, while keeping patient anger at a minimum.
Instead, the federal government, health insurers and employers would pay the bill. Those costs, in turn, could be passed on to consumers in other ways, as in higher premiums or higher co-pays on other drugs.
“In a way, it is brilliant,” said Rachel E. Sachs, a law professor who specializes in public health policy at Washington University in St. Louis. “We are all seeing them for what they are — the poster child for high drug prices right now, but they don’t want to be. And this tactic is nothing but a self-serving move, not a public-regarding one.” [...]
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bioethics children's health health care finance health law policy insurance market pharmaceuticals public health rachel sachs regulation