SDPA has joined the All Copays Count Coalition (ACCC) to advocate for affordable prescription drugs for patients with healthcare insurance.
The coalition seeks to lower out-of-pocket (OOP) medical costs by banning co-pay accumulator programs (insurance policies) that prevent patients from using financial assistance to count toward their annual deductibles. Pharmaceutical companies frequently provide financial assistance for their products in the form of discounts or cost-sharing programs, which cannot be used by patients to meet a deductible.
A comment letter prepared by the coalition, which SDPA has signed, requests that regulators require “insurers and Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) count all copayments made by or on behalf of an enrollee toward the enrollee’s annual deductible and out-of-pocket limit.” The letter may be accessed here: accc_comment_letter_2023_nbp.pdf
SDPA members and other stakeholders interested in this matter may file comments with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by January 27, 2022. Additional information on how to file comments on the proposed rule titled, Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2023 (NBPP), is available on the Federal Register accessible here: https://tinyurl.com/mr3cj3te
