Drug Coupon News Harvest

Drug Coupon News:- Unbiased aggregation of news regarding copay offset programs 5/5/14

71% Of Doctors Surveyed Say Co-Pay Cards Mean Better Access To Treatment
Loyalty Programs: Attitudes to Co-Pay Cards… use drug coupons to reduce or eliminate your copay ... while understanding of these programs is widespread, opinions as to their value vary sharply … Pharma companies and payers historically have taken opposite stances, with manufacturers largely in favor of co-pay programs and payers largely against them … [MM&M]
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4/8 Bloomberg Columnist Attacks Drug Coupons:
Obamacare Needs to Start Clipping Drug Coupons… coupons for pricey drugs are a bit of a racket … Your doctor, however, isn't paying the cost of the drug; your insurance company is … Drugmakers know this, and they offer some patients coupons offsetting that copayment … What looks like a freebie ends up being anything but … Massachusetts banned those programs in 1988, and the state has one of the country's lowest levels of spending on prescription drugs as a share of total health-care costs …[Bloomberg View]

The above piece implies that Massachusetts has one of the lowest levels of spending on prescription drugs as a share of total health-care costs due to it's former stance of no drug coupons allowed.

However, according to the data source referenced in the piece, a 2009 spreadsheet compiled by Kaiser Permanente, an insurance company with a bias against drug coupons, 3 states and the district of Colombia, which allow coupons have LOWER levels of spending than Massachusetts.

Vermont has an identical level of spending on prescription drugs and it also allows coupons, so your argument is entirely spurious.

In addition, the $32 billion figure that coupons allegedly inflate drug spending is based on a biased report compiled by by a consortium of insurance companies and PBM's who dislike coupons because coupons cut into their profit margins. This report's methodology has been questioned by experts who study the healthcare supply chain and discredited by experts who study the healthcare supply chain.

The fact is that drug coupons redistribute cost savings away from the PBM’s and insurance companies and place the savings directly in the pockets of consumers.

3/10 Managed Care Organizations, Pulmonary Specialists Give Thumbs Up Regarding Coupons for Breathing Medicines
-Insurance companies unlikely to blacklist pulmonary meds because they offer coupons, unlike certain other drugs Surveyed Pulmonologists and Payers Anticipate More Controls on Branded Asthma Drugs in Exchange-Based Plans than Commercial Plans…Although MCOs would restrict access to coupons through step therapy and prior authorization, few surveyed PDs/MDs expect their MCO to exclude these drugs from coverage. ..."Considering the backlash against discount drug coupons among payers, the broad support for coupons for asthma drugs among prescribers and MCOs was somewhat surprising and probably reflects the lack of generic alternatives for the popular inhalers. Although MCOs intend to impose controls on brands associated with coupons, they do not intend to block coverage altogether … [Insurance News Net]

2/24 Levoxyl Coupon Hallmarks Re-Availability Launch
Levoxyl Returns Next Week: But Will The Patients?
Important Information on Levoxyl Re-availability for Patients… Levoxyl should be back on the market and available as of March 3, 2014 … if pharmacies do not have a supply of Levoxyl, they should contact Pfizer customer service at 1-800-533-4535, and Pfizer will work with pharmacists and their designated wholesalers to drop-ship the Levoxyl …[About]
Levoxyl Returns, But Will Patients Switch Back?… Pfizer stopped making Levoxyl in February 2013 after reports of an odor that appeared a few days after opening the bottle … source of the smell was an oxygen-absorbing canister in the bottles … Pfizer is also giving patients a 30-day free trial, which can be downloaded …[Medpage Today]
See Also: Levoxyl Manufacturer Coupon

2/11/14 Insurance Company Leverages Drug Coupons To Save Members Money
-Steering members to on-formulary drugs that have copay offset programs reduces out of pocket fees by $21.2 Mln
Prime Therapeutics Specialty Pharmacy helped nearly 20,000 members save $21.2 million on specialty medicines in 2013… Prime recently studied 264,801 Prime Specialty Pharmacy prescription claims for 37,890 members with prescriptions totaling $911,779,674. The following results showed applying copay offset programs had a significant impact:

- Prime Specialty Pharmacy helped 19,862 members (52.4%) save $21,234,246 through copay offsets (manufacturer coupons and patient assistance programs – PAPs)
- The savings of $21,234,246 represents 60.2% of the member share (originally $35,297,162)
...[Company Press Release]

2/2 Was He right? World Class Expert Regarding Pharma Economics Discusses
The future Of Copay Cards; Presentation From 2011.
Click HERE towatch a fascinating video presentation by a renouned expert in the field, Dr Adam Fein regarding drug coupons or copay offset programs as they are known in the pharmacy benefits management world. This talk, delivered to an audience of 400 pharmaceutical industry executives in March, 2011. Editor's Note:6 minute presentation; arguments for and against coupons from perspective of manufacturers and payers and 3 tactics PBMs could engage to fight coupons including prior authorization and NDC blocks; several months after this presentation, Express Scripts went nuclear unexpectedly and DID engage NDC blocks and experienced limited push back.

1/25United Healthcare Eliminates 25 Drugs From Its Formulary ToShort Circuit Copay Coupons
Plans Continue to Weigh Options Around Specialty Rx Coupons… expanded the program to cover an additional 25 medications as of Jan. 1, 2014. The eliminations impact less than 1% of UnitedHealthcare members currently taking one of these drugs, and the action does not apply to needs-based assistance programs … Specialty coupons and patient assistance programs can be effective programs to help members offset high out-of-pocket costs, but coupon use should not circumvent existing utilization management programs, care management programs or formulary management strategies …[Atlantic Information Services] Editor's Note: 812 word article; mentions United Healthcare, Express Scripts, BlueCross Blue Shield, Prime Therapeutics, PerformRx, Medimpact Healthcare Systems, Aetna, Omeda Rx. Explains tactics 3rd party payers use to blunt effect of offset programs including clmplete NDC block.

1/5 Gilead Issues $16,800 Drug Coupon
What do you do when a bottle of pills you sell costs more than a car? You issue a coupon. Gilead's Sovaldi coupon promises to offset your out of pocket costs (after you pay a nominal $5 per month) by up to 20% off the catalogue price for a 12 week course of therapy. At a whopping $28,000 per month retail, the maximum value of this offer is roughly $16,800.

1/5 Bidding War? Jannsen, Gilead Double Coupon Offer Amounts For New Year
2014 is starting off with a positive spin for HIV patients on Complera from Gilead and Prezista from Janssen. Last yearPresista, Intelence and Edurant offered a $100 maximum value coupon and Complera was offering a $200 maximum value coupon (both coupons required the patient to pay the 1st $5).
Beginning January both companies doubled the maximum value of their offers. Presista, Intelence and Edurant now offer a $200 offset while Complera offers a $400. Our sources tell us that competition in the HIV treatment arena plus tighter formulary restrictions caused the uptick.

11/4 Prominent Medical Journal Highlights Internet Drug Coupons.com
New England Journal Of Medicine Highlights InternetDrugcoupons.com:
The New England Journal of Medicine is the most reputable, widest read, influential medical journal in the world – ask any doctor. That’s why we are flattered that NEJM used InternetDrugCoupons.com (this site) as a reference tool for an important editorial piece they published recently regarding drug coupons ... Read More