Health payers to face sticker shock in 2023 as Paxlovid drugs no longer free

Nearly 6 million Americans have taken Paxlovid for free, courtesy of the federal government, but that is expected to end in mid-2023, Healthleaders Media reports. The Department of Health and Human Services will stop supplying COVID-19 treatments, and pharmacies will purchase and bill for them the same way they do for antibiotic pills or asthma inhalers. The U.S. government has so far purchased 20 million courses of Paxlovid, priced at about $530 each, which represented a discount for buying in bulk.