The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) issued a statement to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to encourage them to allow copay assistance to qualify toward the patient deductible after CMS proposed a new Health and Human Services Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters rule for 2024 without revising its copay assistance policy. If CMS does decide to revise the rule regarding copay assistance, the new measure would help alleviate some of the financial pressures that patients face when paying for expensive rheumatic medications such as biologics and biosimilars. The ACR expressed concern that without copay assistance, decisions to delay or cancel treatment as a result of the high cost of medications may lead to patients experiencing irreversible joint and tissue damage and a lower quality of life. “While we understand the need to find solutions to help curb the increasing cost of health care, we cannot support policies that sacrifice our patients’ health in the name of cost savings,” the ACR underscored in the statement to CMS.
May 18, 2023