Prescription Drug Cost Sharing

Long-Term Cost-Effectiveness of Providing Full Coverage for Preventive Medications After Myocardial Infarction

“…However, as the burden of cost sharing continues to grow, patients may increasingly avoid essential medical interventions. [6][7][8] Underuse of effective drugs is a major contribution to suboptimal disease control and poor outcomes. For example, studies of patients with a variety of chronic health conditions have indicated that a 10% increase in patient cost sharing is associated with a reduction of 2% to 6% in spending on prescription drugs and an increase in the use of other resources, such as emergency departments and inpatient services.…”

“…For example, studies of patients with a variety of chronic health conditions have indicated that a 10% increase in patient cost sharing is associated with a reduction of 2% to 6% in spending on prescription drugs and an increase in the use of other resources, such as emergency departments and inpatient services. 7 One logical response to these observations is to selectively eliminate cost-related barriers for evidence-based drugs. In this strategy, widely known as value-based insurance design (VBID) or evidence-based plan design, copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles are reduced or eliminated for drugs that are potentially life-saving and of high value (ie, providing important health benefits relative to costs).…”

“…[3][4][5] Among these, removing financial barriers to medication filling by reducing patient outof-pocket costs has attracted much attention, [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] supported by the Post Myocardial Infarction Free Rx Event and Economic Evaluation (MI FREEE) trial. 13 In this study, eliminating copayments for β-blockers, ACEIs, ARBs, and statins prescribed to post-MI patients not only improved adherence but also reduced rates of major vascular events (although not revascularization) without increasing overall health spending.…”

Patterns of medication use in Queensland Australia and the impact of a large copayment increase: an exploratory study

“…Evidence that cost affects the use of medications comes from a Cochrane Review (Austvoll-Dahlgren et al, 2008), and major reviews of studies from the USA and Canada (Lexchin & Grootendorst, 2004;Gibson, Ozminkowski & Goetzel 2005a;Goldman et al, 2007;Gelland, Grenard & McGlynn, 2009). These studies consistently show that increases in cost sharing influence medication use in both positive and negative ways.…”

“…The review concluded that while caps and copayment policies save expenditure on drugs, they may also contribute to reductions in the use of life-sustaining medications or drugs used for treating chronic conditions. Tamblyn et al, (2001) and Goldman et al, (2007) and also reported that user charges contribute to savings in drug expenditure at the expense of unintended effects.…”