Making prescription drugs more affordable, or sneaky marketing tactic?

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal discussed how “a growing number of dug makers are offering [discount and rebate] coupons that help reduce out-of-pocket costs of some prescription drugs.” According to the article, the coupons are mostly for newer brand-name drugs, and they can lower or even eliminate co-pays for the drugs, depending on the insurance plan.

On the consumer advocates side, the argument is that these coupons help patients save both on drugs they are already using and on new therapies that the patients may want to try. Essentially, they view these coupons as “co-pay assistance.” The other side argues that these coupons may undercut insurers’ cost-control measures, because they may steer consumers towards brand-name medicines that aren’t on the preferred list of pharmacy-benefit plans with tiered formularies. While a coupon could eliminate the patient’s co-pay for a new, brand-name drug, the insurer still has to pay the negotiated wholesale price. This means that there is the potential that use of these coupons could “lead to higher premiums in the long run.”

Here’s the link to the article…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125339394529025429.html