Join the NPF and IDF at 3:00 PM EST on Dec 12, 2022 for a free webinar
“Copay Accumulators: Barriers to Patient Access and Legislative Fixes in PA.”
As the Pennsylvania Legislature prepares for a new legislative session and patients across the state select their 2023 insurance through open enrollment, the National Psoriasis Foundation and Immune Deficiency Foundation want to educate the public and lawmakers about the hidden dangers of copay accumulator programs. Whether insurers refer to these programs as Copay Accumulators, Out-of-Pocket Protection Programs, or True Accumulation, the bottom line is that these insurer-mandated forms of utilization management present a serious hurdle for patients looking to access crucial medication through their marketplace insurance.
Insurers use copay accumulators to accept third-party copay assistance for a patient’s medication without counting these payments towards a patient’s cost-sharing obligations, lulling patients into a false sense of security before hitting them with bills running into the thousands of dollars for essential medications that patients often cannot afford alone. Even though patients with chronic illnesses can experience worsened symptoms, permanent complications, and even hospitalizations without uninterrupted access to their medication, these copay accumulators have only become more common in marketplace health plans over the last few years.
Fortunately, there are things that you can do to avoid health plans that include copay accumulators and join with a larger coalition of concerned citizens to advocate for laws that would protect patients from this practice. NPF and IDF invite you to learn by joining their webinar “Copay Accumulators: Barriers to Patient Access and Legislative Fixes in PA,” which will cover topics such as:
• How a copay accumulator works
• Firsthand stories that demonstrate how copay accumulator programs harm patients
• Language to look out for in your insurance plan’s fine print
• Ways to get involved in efforts to pass legislation banning copay accumulators at the state and
federal levels
Please reach out to Will Hubbert, NPF’s Grassroots Advocacy Manager, at <ahref=”mailto:whubbert@psoriasis.org”>whubbert@psoriasis.org if you have any questions about the event, and don’t hesitate to share this opportunity with other stakeholders and patients in the PA community who you think might be interested in this subject. We look forward to seeing you all and discussing this topic.