The trend: Many workers and their companies agree that employer health plans fall short in helping people save on prescription drug costs, according to a recent Buzz Health survey of employees and HR and benefits professionals.

• About two-thirds (67%) of employees said their company has never informed them about resources available to reduce their Rx costs.
• And roughly 1 in 4 benefits leaders say their company’s health plan falls short in protecting employees from high prescription drug costs, and that affordability isn’t an organizational priority.

Digging into the details: Despite significant awareness of drug-savings programs, a pervasive communication gap prevents benefits leaders from sharing these tools with their workforce.

For every major savings resource, health benefit leaders’ communication rates are less than half of their awareness levels:

• Rx discount cards: 65% of benefits leaders were aware of them, but only 32% shared them with employees.
• Manufacturer copay cards: 34% of benefits leaders knew about them, but only 17% told workers about them.
• State assistance: 25% of benefits leaders were aware of state-funded programs that help residents pay for prescription drugs, but only 8% informed employees of them.

Because of this communication gap, only 1 in 10 employees hears about savings tools from their company. Employees are forced to find relief elsewhere, primarily through healthcare providers (39%) or independent online searches (27%).

Why it matters: Modern health insurance often fails to shield workers from high out-of-pocket costs—a struggle that is sometimes intensified by a lack of communication regarding available savings tools.

Without employer guidance on discount programs or state assistance, 43% of employees managed these costs through desperate measures, per Buzz Health:

• 17% put off filling a prescription until they could afford it.
• 17% paid for their medication with a credit card and carried a balance.
• 12% had to cut back on grocery or food spending.
• 10% skipped filling a prescription entirely.

Implications for drugmakers and employers: The communication gap is rarely intentional; rather, it is a byproduct of a pharmacy benefit system that has become too complex for even benefits leaders to navigate.

Many employers—including benefits leaders and CEOs—don’t fully understand how their drug benefits are managed or whether they’re getting a fair deal in PBM contracts. Frustrated by "black box" pricing and restrictive formularies, a growing number of organizations are bypassing traditional PBMs in favor of transparent, direct-to-employer pharma models. Players like GoodRx, Waltz Health, and Andel are leading this shift, enabling manufacturers to supply certain medications directly to employers. By removing complex contract terms, these models provide clear pricing and potentially lower-cost access that traditional PBM networks often block.

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