As NPR reports, insurance decisions about which drugs to cover present patients and doctors with an unfair choice: pay exorbitant prices or settle for a medication that may not work right. Dropping drugs leaves patients in a bind and ignores the fact that different drugs work better for different patients.
Why drop some drugs? Insurers say they are trying to bring prices down. But that's small comfort to a patient who needs a particular medication for, say, the side effects of chemotherapy (one of the examples discussed in the report).
A patient profiled in the story, who endured side effects including an enlarged prostate when he had to choose an alternative ADHD drug based on what insurance covered, sums it up: "How dare this company that I pay money to tell me how to manage my health care. I was really, really angry."
Listen to the story here.
