Copay cards

In the most recent issue of Drug Topics, an article that I submitted several months ago was published. It was on the topic of copay cards. Here's the link.

The email response that I have received has been far more than I expected. It appears that pretty much every pharmacist that has responded has been in agreement.

Several pharmacists have pointed out that many contracts with insurance companies prohibit anything that will reduce the adjudicated copays. That got me thinking...

The copay card that was the inspiration for the article was the Lipitor card. The largest insurer in my local area distributed these copay cards to all of their enrollees who were taking Lipitor at the start of the benefit year.

I'm just wondering how long it is going to be until this insurance company audits the smaller pharmacies in my area and recoups all of the payments it has made to the pharmacies for Lipitor since the program began, in addition to any and all penalties that may be levied against the pharmacies.

I'm not saying that the insurance company may have planned it this way.

But I'm not not saying it either.