Speaker Q&A Directory

Incorporating Over-the-Counter Drugs into Your Benefit Plan
– A two-minute preview of what you'll hear at the Benefits Forum & Expo in Boca Raton, Fla.

Many medications that once were available only through a doctor's prescription are now only an arm's length away on the pharmacy shelves. Lynn Zonakis, managing director health strategy and resources for Delta Air Lines, shares how to guide employees to over-the-counter relief in order to save them – and the health plan – money. This strategy saves Delta Air Lines millions each year, and it can work for your company too.

Q: Why might employers want to promote OTC drugs in their health plan?

A: The array of effective and safe OTCs available is huge: pain drugs like Advil, heartburn medications like Prilosec, and non-sedating antihistamines such as Claritin. Many OTC drugs also have generic equivalents. I would not be surprised to see cholesterol-lowering statins move into the category within the next five years.

Q: What is Delta's benefit approach to OTC medications?

A: While we don't cover OTCs in the health plan, we heavily promote them in communications and through a plan design that gives people a reason to consider them. We emphasize that these are former gold-standard drugs that have gone off patent, and they're just as good as they were before.

Q: Has your communications plan and benefit design saved money?

A: Yes. We made formulary changes in our plan design around proton-pump inhibitors and non-sedating antihistamines. OTC alternatives are less expensive. We save between $2-$4 million a year in those cost categories.

Q: If an employer wanted to cover OTCs in the health plan, how would that work?

A: Any employer can work with a pharmacy benefit manager to bring OTCs into the formulary. Be sure to evaluate the drugs in those categories and design the right incentives. Realize that if you cover OTC drugs on the formulary, some people will move on to your benefit plan.

A: Since a prescription isn't needed for OTC drugs, how can employers help ensure employees are getting the right treatments?

Q: That's a great question. Ultimately, we don't have total control. We rely on the Food and Drug Administration to make decisions about safety and efficacy. The biggest key is that we employers need to do what we can to help employees become better consumers of health care.

To learn more, please join us at the 5th Annual Benefits Forum & Expo, September 26-28, 2010 in Boca Raton, Fla. REGISTER TODAY!