ASCO Supports Act to Reduce Co-Pays for Specialty Medications

Earlier this year, US Representatives David McKinley (R-WV) and Lois Capps (D-CA), co-sponsored the Patients' Access to Treatments Act of 2015 that is applicable to health plans that have formulariers or a tiered cost-sharing structure. The objective: reduce the increasing cost-sharing requirements for patients imposed by the preferred versus non-preferred tiering of some of the prescription medications.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology has now announced that it endorses the Act that will shield patients from mounting co-payment burdens of specialty formulations.

“The imposition of high cost-sharing requirements is increasingly becoming a barrier for cancer patients,” wrote ASCO President Julie Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO. “In some cases, cancer patients are simply unable to afford the appropriate treatment, placing them at risk of a less successful outcome, or a more debilitating treatment regimen.”