Drugs are Free Now?
I filled a prescription at the pharmacy yesterday and it was... free. So was a different prescription I filled several weeks ago. I haven't seen this since... well, ever. Even back in the 1990s there was a $5 co-pay on filling a prescription.
What's changed? Well, it isn't that I've switched to some super platinum-trimmed health insurance. In fact a few months ago I switched from a traditional PPO insurance plan to an HDHP/HSA plan. Long story short, these plans entail reducing costs by shifting more of them onto customers upfront, figuring that customers will consume health care more cost-effectively if they're paying for more of it out of pocket. So I actually expected that, in exchange for lower premiums, my prescription co-pays would go up.
What changed is that, apparently, health insurance companies are seeing the Big Picture. If their customers choose not to treat minor illnesses because the medications cost too much out of pocket, they'll spiral into major illness. And covering treatment for a customer with major illness will cost the insurance company way more than $10, $25, or even $40 on prescription co-pays.
What's changed? Well, it isn't that I've switched to some super platinum-trimmed health insurance. In fact a few months ago I switched from a traditional PPO insurance plan to an HDHP/HSA plan. Long story short, these plans entail reducing costs by shifting more of them onto customers upfront, figuring that customers will consume health care more cost-effectively if they're paying for more of it out of pocket. So I actually expected that, in exchange for lower premiums, my prescription co-pays would go up.
What changed is that, apparently, health insurance companies are seeing the Big Picture. If their customers choose not to treat minor illnesses because the medications cost too much out of pocket, they'll spiral into major illness. And covering treatment for a customer with major illness will cost the insurance company way more than $10, $25, or even $40 on prescription co-pays.