Copayments And the Demand for Prescription Drugs

Increasing prescription drug cost-sharing by patients - in the form of increasing copayments - is one of the most striking, and controversial, developments in the health sector over recent years. Debate over the exact nature and use of copayments by health care insurers continues to be hotly debated by experts in the private and public sectors. Differential copayments for medically equivalent alternatives is one strategy insurers use to affect the choice of one drug over another when they face different prices for each drug. This book's results suggest that differences in copayments influence choice, shifting market share for these drugs. This detailed and meticulously researched study is one of the first of its kind: it examines the influence of copayments on the choice of prescription drugs. Relative copayments for therapeutcially equivalent drugs, imposed by insurers, are shown to have a significant impact on consumer choice - the implication being that physicians are acting in patients' financial,as well as medical interest. Unlike much work in this area,Copayments and the Demand forPrescription Drugsis not sponsored by any drug company; and its up-to-date results, established on a firm scientific basis, are entirely unbiased. Its results have applications for the private insurance and pharmaceutical sectors as well as the public sector. It will be of great interest to professionals and researchers in the fields of health economics, economic and healthcare policy-making, and microeconomics.

Domenico Esposito is a Researcher at Mathematica Policy Research Inc. in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.