Health plan executives often find themselves caught in a balancing act when it comes to delivering a valuable pharmacy benefit. On the one hand, members expect and deserve affordable, easy access to medications. On the other hand, prescription drug costs continue to rise at an unsustainable pace, forcing plans to pass some of those costs on to their members. Prescription drug spending increased by 11.4% to $449.7 billion in 2023, outpacing the 7.8% increase in 2022, according to the most recent National Health Expenditure data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.