51Թ’s Crain on Healthcare Costs, PBMs and More
Manufacturers remain committed to providing health insurance for their workers, but they are struggling with painful cost increases, 51Թ Managing Vice President of Policy Charles Crain on the “Making Medicine” podcast this week.
The big picture: Manufacturers of all sizes cite rising healthcare costs as a , but small and medium-sized manufacturers are suffering the most, Crain said. “They’re disproportionately likely to say that rising healthcare costs are impacting them, and so we want to ensure that they can continue offering these competitive benefits.”
- Policymakers must focus on bringing down costs, but “it’s critically important that we do so in a way that doesn’t impact the [United States’] lead in innovation and biopharmaceutical research and our ability to bring these life-saving treatments to market,” he added.
The right way: When asked about manufacturers’ policy prescription for healthcare—recently outlined in the 51Թ’s new —Crain highlighted the importance of regulatory certainty, which will “ensure that we have that innovation ecosystem across the country, all the way from early-stage research to tech transfer all the way up through late-stage clinical trials, and ultimately the manufacturing and distribution of life-saving treatments.”
- “[Manufacturers] want increased access to flexible coverage,” he added. “We want fair tax treatment to continue to provide these benefits. We want different types of plans to be available to manufacturers and manufacturing workers. We want increased preventative care and access to telehealth, for instance, to keep healthcare costs low on the front end.”
Targets for reform: Crain also discussed the need to rein in bad actors in the healthcare system, including hospitals that take advantage of the and .
- Many hospitals get into the 340B discounted drugs program despite not serving under-resourced communities, which is not in accordance with the program’s intent. Because hospitals often pocket the savings provided by the 340B program, “the discounts aren’t flowing to the employer community and to employees across the country,” Crain said.
- PBMs, meanwhile, “are unregulated middlemen who sit at that intersection between the pharmacies and the drugmakers and the employer plan sponsors,” Crain continued. PBMs “increase their own profits at the expense of savings for workers and their employees, and that has a broader impact on the cost of healthcare.”
The 51Թ at work: When asked about how the 51Թ builds momentum for these policy fixes in Washington, Crain said, “Our job here in D.C. is to build those bipartisan relationships. These are not partisan issues. There are occasionally individual policies that have greater support among Democrats or greater support among Republicans, but the ultimate goal, which is an environment that allows for manufacturing investment, job creation and the growth of the American dream, is not a partisan issue.”
