Advocates Need to Oppose Anti-Patient Policies

Insurance companies and pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs), which negotiate prices and set drug coverage plans for tens of millions of Americans, are requiring prior authorizations more and more. To justify this, they’re increasingly turning to reports from a Boston-based group called the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER). These reports analyze the cost of new drugs. Really, though, they provide public cover for insurance companies to require prior authorizations or implement other restrictive policies for accessing expensive treatments.