Patients continue to show up at the pharmacy counter and realize their commercial health insurance coverage doesn’t provide the level of access and affordability they need. A big reason is because insurers and pharmacy benefit managers are shifting more costs onto patients through higher use of deductibles and coinsurance.
Patients with a deductible or coinsurance spent about 500% more on average out of pocket for their brand medicines than patients with only copays.
As insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have taken steps to make medicines less affordable, drug manufacturers have stepped in to help provide patient assistance such as for copays or other out-of-pocket costs. Patient assistance can take the form of a copay coupon or copay assistance. For example, this assistance helps 1 in 3 patients with cancer access the brand medicines they need.