Copay Accumulator Lawsuit Comes to an End; Will Ruling Be Enforced?

An ongoing lawsuit over the use of copay accumulators is drawing to a close following the defendants’ and plaintiffs’ motions to dismiss their appeals. The ball is now in the federal government’s and state insurance commissioners’ courts to enforce a district court judge’s ruling, which states that manufacturer assistance must be counted toward patients’ out-of-pocket responsibility unless a brand-name drug has a medically appropriate generic equivalent.

Health plans and PBMs several years ago began implementing copay accumulators — and then a new iteration known as copay maximizers that declare certain drugs non-essential health benefits to avoid covering them per the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — to counter manufacturer copay assistance programs. Before these tools, that assistance would count toward beneficiaries’ annual out-of-pocket expenses. When those out-of-pocket maximums were reached, health plans would cover the remainder of members’ costs for the year. With accumulators and maximizers, patients can still use that assistance, but it does not help reduce those out-of-pocket costs.