Credit: Adobe Stock
TrumpRx.gov had been trying to show that giving workers easy access to prescription drug manufacturers' discount programs can push down the cost of prescription drugs.
What the federal manufacturers' discount coupon distribution website has shown so far is that GoodRx, a commercial drug price information and discount coupon distribution site, has a powerful brand.
Pharmaceutical Strategies Group has published data showing how formidable GoodRx is in a summary of results of a prescription drug market trends survey. The sample for the question about drug discount program awareness included 219 decision-makers at health insurers and employer-sponsored health plans.
PSG fielded the survey from Feb. 9 through March 6, as TrumpRx was being launched. The publicity for the website, including a press conference held at the White House, was at its peak.
Mark Cuban, the Shark Tank veteran and serial entrepreneur behind the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company's CostPlusDrugs.com website, was out promoting his own online discount pharmacy website through every available media channel.
But PSG found that 92% of the employer plan decision-makers who participated in its survey had heard of GoodRx. Further, only 59% said they had heard of TrumpRx and roughly 57% knew about Cost Plus Drugs.
Employers were more aware of all three sites than of digital weight management websites like Ro, even though web traffic statistics from Similarweb showed that Ro was attracting about twice as much traffic as TrumpRx and more than five times as much traffic as Cost Plus Drugs.
What it means: For employers and benefits advisors, one takeaway from the PSG survey is that benefits advisors are important to employers partly because even simple, heavily promoted information about health benefits services spreads slowly.
Other survey findings: PSG also found that:
◆ 68% of employers worry that drug discount card programs and manufacturers' direct-to-consumer sales programs will confuse plan participants.
◆ 46% worry that they'll lose important, useful information about what drugs plan participants are taking if they use discount cards to buy drugs.
◆ 16% of employers have no concerns about the discount programs and direct-to-consumer sales programs.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.