Drug Costs Will Keep Soaring Insurers Fear
Monday, July 17th, 2000 Liability Life & Health Workers' CompensationAnnual increases in prescription drug spending in benefit plans are approaching 16 to 17 percent nationwide, one leading health insurer warns. The increases won’t stop anytime soon, predicted Joseph Severinski, manager of pharmacy programs for United HeathCare of Ohio in Cleveland, and also a licensed pharmacist. The cost of research and development for new drugs alone will push costs up in the future, as will marketing costs and other factors, said Mr. Severinski here at the recent National Association of Health Underwriters' annual meeting. To back up his predictions, he cited estimates in a national study published in 1999 by the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation in Washington, D.C., which shows drug costs have been rising steadily during the past five or six years.
