Report: Patients make sacrifices to afford prescription medications
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* Sophie Wazlowski

Nearly 70% of U.S. patients have made personal or financial sacrifices to afford their prescription medicines, a recent report finds. And for one-third of them, choosing between their prescriptions and paying for necessities is a monthly occurrence.

The struggle that many patients in the U.S. experience when paying for prescription medications is the focus of the “2020 Medication Access Report” released in June by CoverMyMeds, a health care software company that works to automate prescription authorizations.

The report used market research and survey data from patients and health care providers to identify factors that are keeping people from filling their prescriptions.

Among them are high-deductible health insurance plans, which can make paying for prescription medicines more difficult. On average, people with such plans do not reach their deductible until about halfway through the year, forcing them to pay out of pocket.

Other problems include a lack of transparency on drug costs, high costs of specialty therapy medications for people with rare chronic ailments, and delays in acquiring prior authorizations for prescriptions.

When they can no longer afford their prescriptions, about 30% of patients stop picking them up, while 50% seek affordability options through their health care providers.

“(Rising) financial pressures, restricted choice, administrative bottlenecks and limited support are keeping patients from the medications they need to live healthy lives,” the report said.

The research, conducted in 2019, does not capture the increased burden experienced by millions of people in the U.S. due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of June 5, 44 million people have filed for unemployment benefits since March, when businesses began to close to mitigate spread. Nearly half of people who have become unemployed during the outbreak lost employer-sponsored health insurance, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

To read the report, visit [https://www.covermymeds.com/main/medication-access-report](https://www.covermymeds.com/main/medication-access-report).

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association