Blue Cross Makes Prescription Drugs More Affordable for Members and Group Customers

MiBlue Daily

Mar. 6, 2026

Skyrocketing prescription drug prices threaten the affordability of health care in Michigan and across the U.S. To help make medications more affordable for our members and group customers, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network work to manage prescription drug costs and provide access to medicine members need through creative solutions. And we’re getting results.

In 2025, we held our total prescription drug cost increase across all our commercial health plans to 2.6% over 2024. That is 83% less than the rate of drug cost increases compared to the previous year.

How are we doing it? We’re negotiating prices, providing lower cost alternatives to expensive medications, matching members with discount programs, forging helpful partnerships and developing innovative programs.

Our biosimilars strategy saved $80 million in 2025 and $67 million in 2024. We adopted biosimilars that saved our members and group customers 90% off the list price of top-selling expensive biologic drugs in 2025.

Humira® has been one of the most prescribed drugs in the country in recent years, at a list price of about $10,400 per month, according to the Red Book® for prescription drug pricing published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office in February 2025. We switched the preferred medication on most of our covered drug lists to a biosimilar called Simlandi® at a 90% savings in January 2025. We made a similar change for another expensive drug, Stelara®, in April 2025, moving to the biosimilar Yesintek® also at a 90% savings. In both cases, members are continuing their effective medication therapies, with 99% staying on the new biosimilar options, and saving money in the process.

We continued to move coverage from expensive brand-name biologic drugs to lower-cost biosimilars that are just as safe and effective throughout 2025. And we’ll continue to find and adopt those solutions in 2026 and beyond.