As the heat turns up on drug manufacturers who determine the price of insulin and the health insurers and middlemen who determine what patients pay, one company — Cigna's Express Scripts — announced Wednesday it will take steps by the end of the year to help limit the drug's cost to consumers.
Express Scripts, which manages prescription drug insurance for more than 80 million people, is launching a "patient assurance program" that Steve Miller, Cigna's chief clinical officer, says "caps the copay for a patient at $25 a month for their insulin — no matter what."
The move by Express Scripts comes as lawmakers are focused on high drug prices and listening to stories about patients who can't afford their medication.
Insulin has become a major focus. A Minnesota man died last year, according to his mother, when he tried to ration his insulin because he couldn't afford the $1,300 monthly What we're hoping is that we're going to see more diabetics taking more insulin, [fewer] complications for those patients, and hopefully lower health care costs," Miller tells Shots.
Express Scripts covers 1.4 million people who take insulin, Miller says.
Under the discount program, patients who haven't met their deductible and normally would have to pay the full retail price for their insulin would pay $25. The same goes for those whose normal copayment is a percentage of that retail price. Miller says on average patients pay about $40 a month for insulin copayments — but the price can vary widely month to month, depending on the design of a patient's prescription drug plan.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...ntent=20190403
It’s some what of a start time will tell how this works out.
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