Opinion: For some patients, drug coupons are the only way to afford medication

To the editor: Your article gives the appearance that all such use of coupons and copay programs are equal. They are not. (“How free coupons for patients help drugmakers hike prices by 1,000%,” Dec. 5)

I have for several years taken a drug called Enbrel to manage psoriasis and its related condition psoriatic arthritis. It is a biologic drug and expensive: Four doses (one month) would cost $3,360 without insurance. My insurance — which I have only because the Affordable Care Act removed the legal ability to deny me coverage based on that preexisting condition — covers $2,688 of that. The manufacturer, however, provides a coupon that covers all but $10 of the remaining balance.

Enbrel has no generic equivalent. There is no opportunity for substitution. Without that copay program, my cost would be $672 per month, which is more than my monthly insurance premium.

Do these coupon programs used by the drug manufacturers still sound like such a bad idea?

Kymberleigh Richards, Van Nuys

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To the editor: As a dermatologist, I sincerely hope every one of my colleagues reads about the high cost of prescription medications containing nothing more than inexpensive versions of the same ingredients available over the counter.

I used to buy cortisone cream from a wholesaler for $8 a tube and would just give them to patients so they could avoid the $60 price tag at the pharmacy. This generic brand is no longer available from the wholesaler.

Matt Schmitt of UCLA Anderson School of Management is to be commended for bringing yet another story of greed on the part of pharmaceutical companies, namely Horizon Pharma and Novum, to our attention.

Marilyn Mehlmauer, MD, Los Angeles

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