Ensuring Access to Affordable, Innovative Treatments & Cures

Patients deserve timely access to affordable, innovative medicines, treatments, and cures. There are over 2.9 million people in Louisiana with at least 1 chronic disease, and the projected total cost of chronic disease from 2016-2030 in Louisiana is $612 billion. They should not be faced with barriers to receive the care they need to maintain their health. Louisiana is home to some of the nation’s strongest patient protection laws to ensure all patients have access to the right medication at the right time. Legislators in Louisiana have a number of policies they can pursue to continue to put affordable and innovative medicines and treatments into patients’ hands.

On behalf of patients and families in Louisiana, we urge state legislators to:

Require insurers and PBMs to share the benefit of rebates and negotiated discounts directly with patients at the point-of-sale.
Eliminate copay accumulator programs to ensure that all money paid toward prescriptions on behalf of a patient count toward the patient’s out-of-pocket maximum and annual deductible.
Streamline Utilization Management protocols, like step therapy, prior authorization, and non-medical switching, to ensure patients access to the right medicines at the right time.
Ensure federal and state programs designed to support patients work as originally intended – to improve access and health equity for the communities served.

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IN THE NEWS

The Daily Advocate: Cutting out-of-pockets costs

Patients with chronic, complex conditions such as multiple sclerosis and hemophilia rely on copay assistance programs through drug manufacturers, charities, and churches to help cover the costs of their prescription drugs. Recently, many major health insurance providers have implemented discriminatory policies that no longer allow the payments made through copay assistance programs to count toward a patient’s deductible.

Modern Healthcare: Virginia and West Virginia are first states to ban copay accumulators

Virginia and West Virginia became the first states to ban an insurer practice that prevents drug manufacturer coupons and copay assistance from counting against a plan's deductible or out-of-pocket limit, and patient advocates believe more states are going to follow suit.

Observer: Using Prescription Coupons Might Be Raising Your Insurance Copay

The total value of the coupon is applied evenly throughout the benefit year but does not count against a patient’s cost-sharing obligations. The result, as with accumulators, is that PBMs reduce their financial liability by leveraging the value of the coupon and the beneficiary cost-sharing amounts. In short, maximizers raise copays for patients using coupons.

Patient Access for Louisiana unites voices committed patient-first policies to ensure timely access to innovative, affordable medications, treatments, and cures. The coalition unites all types of stakeholders – patients, healthcare professionals, and business organizations – to ensure a unified strategy to address these issues.

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Patient Access for Louisiana unites diverse stakeholders committed to patient-first policies that ensure timely access to innovative, affordable medications, treatments, and cures.