"If you're having trouble paying for your medications, Drug Company X may be able to help."
You may have heard sentences like this at the end of pharmaceutical ads on television, and some clinicians may wonder what exactly the companies do to help their patients. The help usually comes in the form of what drugmakers call a "copay coupon" or copay assistance card for, say, $50 that the patient can present at the pharmacy counter to lower the amount they have to pay for their prescription.
Insurers are notified when their patients use copay coupons, and many of them use the data to compile "copay accumulator" records for enrollees. Often, insurers won't allow the money paid by drugmakers to count toward the patient's deductible or out-of-pocket costs.