WASHINGTON (Dec. 8, 2016) — A majority of small business owners offering health insurance say they feel the high costs of prescription drugs are affecting their bottom line, according to a new poll conducted on behalf of Small Business Majority (SBM).
According to a new release issued by the advocacy group, many small businesses offer prescription drug coverage in their health care plans. Half of those who do say they consider the drug costs when selecting a plan. Still, many small businesses call the costs “burdensome” and in many cases nearly unaffordable, the news release said.
“The cost of prescription drugs has been on the rise for some time, and it's no surprise that small business owners are being burdened by those increasing costs,” David Chase, vice president of National Outreach for SBM said in a statement.
“As these results make clear,” he added. “Our nation's biggest job creators are finding it difficult to cover the cost of their employees' medications and strongly support reforming the drug market. Otherwise, they fear they may lose talent to larger corporations with more resources.”
The telephone poll, conducted by Lake Research Partners, surveyed 503 small business owners. It found that 88 percent of respondents felt drug prices were too high. Additionally, 72 percent of those polled believe the drug companies are to blame for the excessive costs, while 20 percent of those polled felt the high costs should be attributed to the insurance companies.
Nearly eight in 10 said they felt as if the pharmaceutical companies were unfairly benefitting from the high costs.
Sixty-two percent of respondents said the prescription drug market needs to be overhauled for it to work properly. The two most popular solutions to the problems were making drugs developed at taxpayer expense more affordable, and making it illegal for pharmaceutical companies to pay another company that makes generic drugs to delay the release of those generics.