The pluses and minuses of drugmakers' discount cards. FILE - This Oct. 1. Epi. Pen epinephrine auto- injector, a Mylan product, in Hendersonville, Texas. Facing public furor for the price of its emergency allergy shot Epi. Pen, Mylan Pharmaceuticals quickly pointed to a familiar industry solution: copay discount cards. Discount cards for Epi. Chapter 10 Probation, Parole, and Community Corrections. The Pluses and Minuses The Legal Environment The Job of Probation and Parole Officers Intermediate Sanctions The. Chapter 10 Reentry Programs and. News/Talk Programs; Morning Edition; All Things Considered. Who Will Be Kerry's VP? NPR Political Editor Ken Rudin lists the most likely among the potential field and offers pluses and minuses for each. Financing a funeral: All options have pluses, minuses Comparison shop and plan in advance if you want to save By Amy Buttell Crane. Pen and other pricey drugs can help consumers lower their pharmacy costs. But don't call them a solution to skyrocketing drug prices, experts say. Patient advocates say they can bring down out- of- pocket expenses for patients who face high copays and deductibles. Mylan last month boosted its discount cards to cover $3. But they also have a clear business purpose: steering people toward brand- name drugs when cheaper options are often available.
Researchers say those higher costs ultimately drive up expenses for insurers, employers and the health system at large. A look at the pros and cons of copay discount cards: PRO: LOWER OUT- OF- POCKET COSTSAs more employers move to cost- sharing health plans, their workers face higher expenses when filling prescriptions at the pharmacy. The average amount owed by a patient picking up a brand- name drug is $4. IMS Health, a health information company. Copay coupon usually offering reimbursement up to a certain level, such as $1. Advocates say copay coupons are crucial for financially strapped people. Erin Singleton of the Patient Advocate Foundation says she directs patients to websites like needymeds. To qualify, patients generally have to provide information about their insurance. But unlike some other patient assistance programs that offer free medicines or deep discounts, the coupons are not tied to income. That's because manufacturers tend to offer the coupons on brand- name drugs that are competing against lower- priced drugs, often generics that sell for $4 or less at retailers like Wal- Mart. When a generic is available, pharmacists often automatically switch patients to the cheaper option. But when a patient uses a coupon, it short circuits that process. The copay is lower, but the insurer ends up paying for the higher- priced drug. Some research suggests patients with copay discounts are more likely to stay on their medication than those without them. One 2. 01. 4 study of patients taking high- priced specialty drugs for multiple sclerosis and other inflammatory diseases found that nearly half of them used a copay coupon. In most cases, the discounts reduced their monthly expenses to less than $2. CON: SHORT- TERM SOLUTIONCoupon cards can improve access to drugs, but usually for a limited time. Most cards include language that they can only be reused 1. Across all brand- name prescriptions filled in the U. S., copay coupons are only used about 8 percent of the time, according to research published last year by IMS Health. Limiting their use: many mail order pharmacy programs do not accept the cards. Additionally, the cards cannot be used at all by patients in federal health plans like Medicare, Medicaid or Veterans Affairs, which cover tens of millions of Americans. The cards run afoul of federal anti- kickback laws that prohibit companies from giving enrollees anything of value to purchase items paid for by the government. When drugmakers like Mylan tout their discount cards as a remedy for rising drug prices, experts say it deflates public debate about medication costs that could lead to real reforms. Aaron Kesselheim, a professor at Harvard Medical School.
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