Drug Coupons: A Good Deal For The Patient, But Not The Insurer

A magazine ad for the testosterone drug AndroGel shows a discount card that allows consumers to pay "as little as $10 per month" for the medicine. Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline announces in another magazine that it offers discount coupons for the popular inhaler Advair. And a TV commercial for Nexium notes that if consumers can't afford the heartburn drug, its manufacturer, AstraZeneca, "may be able to help."

In the past few years, coupons and discount cards have become nearly ubiquitous for prescription drugs. Such incentives are available for 395 medications, according to a recent report from industry consultant IMS Health. In a similar analysis in 2009, a marketing firm found that only 86 drugs came with coupons.

Read the full story: bit.ly/QIWOp2

Source: Kaiser Health News