Insurer to Reward Illinois Druggists for Generic Sales

Illinois’ biggest health insurer will start paying pharmacists every time they persuade a customer to switch from a brand-name drug to a generic.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois saw its drug costs rise 26% last year, to $701 million. Beginning in January, the insurer will pay $1 for each changed prescription.

Generic drugs generally cost much less than brand-name versions. For instance, a patient taking the generic version of the antidepressant Prozac might pay $70 a month, versus $96 for Prozac, according to a report Sunday in the Chicago Tribune.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield needs to counter the massive marketing efforts of drug makers, said Brad Buxton, senior vice president of health-care management for the organization.

“We don’t want to have all of these commercials driving what everybody is taking,” he told the Tribune. “We are simply trying to encourage what is already a healthy relationship between a pharmacist and the patient. If there is a generic drug that is as good as a brand-name, patients could save $40 to $60 a prescription.”

The insurance company projects that some large-volume pharmacies could make as much as $5,000 to $10,000 per quarter under the program. But some pharmacists aren’t eager. “The only people who would benefit from this is the generic company and the insurance company, and we don’t,” said Sherman White of 200 Pharmacy in Chicago. “When you are trying to make somebody change, that takes time, and time is money to me. It’s not worth it to me anyway.”

A drug company trade group complained that the insurance company is interfering in the doctor-patient relationship.

“We don’t think patients will want their insurance company to play doctors,” said Jackie Cottrell, spokeswoman for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. “Patients have the right to know that an insurer has put this kind of program together.”

Buxton said the pharmacists still will have to check with the doctor before switching a prescription.

“We never push a generic over a brand if the brand is the best drug,” he said.