Specialty pharmaceuticals are a rapidly growing share of total drug expenditures by public and private health plans. These drugs, typically used to treat chronic, serious, or life-threatening conditions, such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, growth hormone deficiency, and multiple sclerosis, are often priced much higher than traditional drugs. Total costs can be in the thousands of dollars a month and can exceed $100,000 a year for some products. There are usually few if any low-cost generic equivalents.
These high costs represent an increasing burden on payers, including governments and employers. Because health plans often require substantial cost sharing for specialty drugs, there is also a large impact on patients who need such medicines. Some are concerned that cost sharing could discourage the use of these drugs, perhaps leading to adverse health outcomes.
Read the article here.