Increase in Patient Adherence Likely Will Follow Ruling Against Copay Offset Programs

  • Oct 12, 2023

    A U.S. district court judge recently struck down a federal rule allowing health plans to not count copayment assistance against members’ out-of-pocket costs. The move clears the way for plans to have to discontinue use of copay offset programs such as copayment accumulators, which have been popular tools to keep their costs down and often impact specialty therapies. But as a result of the ruling, industry experts say that patient adherence likely will improve.

    U.S. District Judge John D. Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued the ruling on Sept. 29.

    To help patients pay for costly specialty drugs, pharma manufacturers offer assistance that can help cover their out-of-pocket costs. Companies claim that the assistance helps improve patient adherence to medications that often treat rare and deadly conditions. But critics of them say such programs incentivize drugmakers to raise prices of these agents.

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  • Angela Maas

    Angela has an extensive background of editing, reporting and writing for trade and consumer publications. She has written Radar on Specialty Pharmacy since she joined AIS Health in 2005 and has broad knowledge of the various issues at play within the space. She also has written for Spotlight on Market Access since its 2017 launch. Before joining AIS Health, she was managing editor at Employee Benefit News and Employee Benefit News Canada and managing editor at Hem Aware (a hemophilia publication), Lupus Living and Momentum (a multiple sclerosis publication). She has a B.A. in English and an M.A. in British literature from Arizona State University.

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