Benefits Awareness Hits Record High While Satisfaction Tanks, Britain Caves to Trump's Drug Pricing Demands, and 340B Contract Pharmacy Profit Machine Faces Inevitable Collapse

Hey all,

Happy Hump Day! Understanding the system doesn't make it work any better. Employees now feel well-informed about benefits they're increasingly dissatisfied with—turns out awareness doesn't fix inadequacy—while Britain just agreed to pay 25% more for drugs to avoid U.S. tariffs, and the IRA's price caps are about to crater pharmacy and 340B margins built entirely on inflated list prices. The common thread is that we keep treating symptoms of a broken system: better benefit communication, international pricing negotiations, spread-based pharmacy profits. Meanwhile, the core absurdity persists—employers managing healthcare they don't understand, Medicare absorbing end-of-life costs after decades of neglected prevention, and an entire infrastructure profiting from price opacity finally discovering what happens when transparency arrives.

Enjoy the rundown!

Jacob Brody (Co-Founder & CEO, ZorroRX)

(BenefitsPro) Employee Benefits Understanding vs. Satisfaction

Despite a record 80% of employees now feeling well-informed about their benefits, overall satisfaction has dropped to just 60%, according to a WTW survey. This disconnect highlights a deeper issue: while awareness is improving, the benefits themselves may not align with employee needs, especially in areas like pay-for-performance and underused options. Experts urge employers to optimize existing budgets for greater impact and to better balance financial and non-financial rewards to boost retention and engagement—but let’s be honest, if 60% say they understand their benefits, at least 20% are probably lying so they don’t have to admit they still think an HSA is some kind of home security system. Full Article

(The New York Times) U.S.-U.K. Drug Pricing Deal to Avoid Tariffs

Britain has agreed to raise what it pays for certain prescription drugs by 25% to avoid U.S. tariffs, meeting a demand from President Trump who has long argued that American consumers unfairly subsidize low drug prices abroad. The move marks a significant shift in the U.K.’s longstanding cost-effectiveness model for drug pricing, sparking debate over whether higher spending on pharmaceuticals will benefit patients or divert resources from other critical health services. Full Article

(Drug Channels) Impact of the IRA on Pharmacy and 340B Profits

The Inflation Reduction Act’s maximum fair prices (MFPs) may briefly increase pharmacy profits, but looming list price reductions will ultimately slash margins for retail pharmacies and 340B contract operations. As manufacturers prepare to lower brand-name drug list prices to align with net prices, pharmacies will lose out on spread-based profits and 340B fees will fall, undermining hospital resistance to rebate models and reducing eligibility for 340B discounts on Medicare Part D claims. The contract pharmacy market, which relies heavily on inflated list prices for high-margin dispensing, is about to get hit especially hard. Full Article