Million-Dollar Drugs Force Employers to Contemplate Risk Pools

Employer-sponsored health plans are investigating the possibility of organizing risk pools to help finance the high cost of prescription drugs.

They are eyeing asking for government help in setting up risk pools that would help cover costs for so-called orphan drugs that treat rare diseases, as well as for high-cost gene and cell therapies. Risk pools are funds collected from groups of employers that would be used to pay for high-cost drugs.

Employers are particularly worried about high-cost drugs that can run more than $1 million. Even with stop-loss insurance, which covers high claims costs, employers can end ...