Inflation is driving up costs all around us – at the grocery store, the gas station, on our utility bills and more. But this trend is nothing new for health care – we’ve seen the effects of rising medical costs for decades. In North Carolina, individuals and businesses have faced some of the highest health care costs in the country.

Prescription drug prices, in particular, are an acute source of financial pain. Patients in the United States pay 2.5 times the price for medications compared to those in other countries. For that reason, it may not be surprising to learn that nearly a third of US adults are not taking their medications as prescribed because they simply can’t afford to. 

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) is committed to making health care more affordable. We’ve lowered premium costs by an estimated $1.35 billion in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) market from 2018 through 2024. That’s based on the estimated total premium savings across all individual ACA plans sold by Blue Cross NC for effective dates of January 1, 2018, through December 31, 2023. 

Part of our work is fighting rising out-of-pocket drug costs, while improving the quality and access of care our members receive. We have worked to negotiate lower costs with drug manufacturers and ensure Blue Cross NC plans cover the most effective drugs at a lower cost.

While pharmaceutical costs in the US grew 9.4% in 2022, Blue Cross NC was able to keep costs in the ACA market to under 1% in 2022 and under 3% so far in 2023. Our work is helping North Carolinians in all 100 counties to find easy, affordable ways to improve their health. 

Specialty drugs are expensive prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic conditions like cancer, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis.

Blue Cross NC has launched new programs to lower the cost of specialty medications. We’ve debuted a new copay assistance, or coupon, program for specialty medications. FlexAccess^™ is available to members whose employers have enrolled. FlexAccess will use the specialty pharmacy the group elects, making access easier for members. According to our recent internal data, savings are expected to average more than $120 per year, per member. 

We’ve also introduced an innovative program that makes specialty medications more affordable. Free Market Health helps members “shop” for their specialty drugs at the lowest cost possible by using a market-based system through Blue Cross NC contracted specialty pharmacies. 

Blue Cross NC is working with a new nonprofit partner to reclaim unused drugs from patients, hospitals, and providers and redistribute via their mail-order pharmacy to patients in need.

RemediChain works with doctors to set members up for the program, which is no cost for patients. Our data shows that since its inception, this program has provided more than $1.1 million in medication provided at no cost to patients. RemediChain is primarily for chemotherapy drugs.  

Our work to lower the cost of prescription medicines is just one way Blue Cross NC is making health care easier – connecting North Carolinians to the information they need, when they need it, and making better health care more affordable for all.