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(Medical-NewsWire.com, November 12, 2012 ) New York, New York -- Coupons for prescription drug have emerged as a new point of conflict between pharmaceutical companies and insurers.
Discount cards and coupons help make medicine available to people, drugmakers say. But insurers insist that demand for brand-name medications raises costs that ultimately lead to higher premiums for consumers.
The use of incentives to sell brand-name drugs has risen in recent years. Discount cards and coupons are offered for 395 products, IMS Health, an industry consultant, stated in a report. A survey by another company in 2009 found coupons offered for 86 medications.
Insurers say that consumers might not be aware that short-term discounts can lead to long-term cost increases.
“An individual patient who receives a coupon might not realize that, although that particular prescription may cost less that month, overall what it does is to raise costs for everyone,” Susan Pisaro said, according to KaiserHealth. Pisaro is a spokeswoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade organization.
In order to push consumers toward generic drugs, insurers charge high co-pays for brand-name medications. Pharmaceutical companies respond by issuing discount cards or coupons to help cover co-pays and attract customers.
A trade group that represents companies that oversee prescription benefit plans questions the drugmakers’ strategy. Mark Merritt, Pharmaceutical Care Management Association president, said the discounts are “designed to get patients to bang down their doctor’s door and say, ‘Give me the expensive drug.’”
Insurers pay more for brand-name drugs, and that might lead them to raise premiums, Merritt said.
Drugmakers, however, say that discounts can help patients afford medicine. That helps reduce health problems and keeps health-care costs down, according to the trade group PhRMA.
“By reducing patient cost sharing, co-pay coupons can support patients’ adherence to a treatment regimen,” according to a statement by Matthew Bennett, vice president of the group. “(They) can play a valuable role in generating better health outcomes and reducing the use of avoidable and costly medical care.”
The debate over medication coupons also is being played out in court. Drug makers are facing a lawsuit from union health plans, which have asked a judge to find the coupons illegal.
About MyCouponDoc.com:
MyCouponDoc.com (https://www.mycoupondoc.com/) is an online resource for medication discounts. Visitors can search for coupons by illness or by medicine. People also can sign up to track their preferred coupons at the website.
My Coupon Doc
Customer Service
4157669098
contactus@mycoupondoc.com
Source: EmailWire.Com 
Source: EmailWire.com
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