Among the new ideas in President Trump's Blueprint to Lower Drug Prices is a proposal to allow patients in Medicare or Medicaid to use “copay coupons,” which are discount cards that drug makers provide to patients to offset out-of-pocket drug costs. These policies already help many patients with private insurance pay for their prescription drugs and would be a welcome benefit for lower-income and elderly patients enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare. But while the president looks to expand the reach of these important coupons, insurance companies are diminishing their worth by pocketing the value for themselves, passing even more costs to patients.
Insurers are increasingly reducing their coverage of high-cost medications through higher copays, increased coinsurance, restrictive drug formularies, and skyrocketing annual deductible requirements. Drug manufacturers and some charities have begun offering copay assistance — usually in the form of coupons or discount cards with capped annual limits — to patients after insurance companies started making them pay a larger share of medication costs.
