TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Contracting for Prescription Drug Benefits: Role of Employers, Insurers, and Pharmacy Benefit Managers A1 - Burns, Lawton Robert PY - 2021 T2 - The U.S. Healthcare Ecosystem: Payers, Providers, Producers AB - Until the 1980s, drug coverage was not a distinct benefit in employer-based health insurance. Instead, it was included in major medical plans (when it was included). Such plans were developed by the commercial insurance companies in the late 1950s to compete with Blue Cross and Blue Shield (which covered the services of hospitals and physicians, respectively). Major medical plans served as the start of “catastrophic coverage,” reimbursing up to $10,000 in expenses that were not restricted to specific categories of hospital or physician expense (ie, they could include drugs).1 Coverage was usually subject to an overall deductible for all services and to the same coinsurance amounts (usually 20%) that applied to all medical care.2 It was thus a limited feature of private insurance plans.3 SN - PB - McGraw-Hill CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/04/25 UR - accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1180253750 ER -