Prescription Drug Samples: Making Decisions with Imperfect Data

Excerpt

Americans spend a large amount of money on the purchase of prescription drugs. Under Medicare’s prescription drug benefit (Medicare Part D), Medicare beneficiaries must pay $4,050 out of pocket, not including monthly premiums averaging around $30/month (from Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder website), before entering the catastrophic coverage range, after which they are responsible for just 5% of drug costs. Within the infamous doughnut hole between $2,510 and $4,050, beneficiaries will pay 100% of the cost of their prescription drugs. Small wonder, then, that patients, and the physicians caring for them, are grateful for access to free drug samples. These samples can enable therapeutic trials of necessary drugs, avoiding the expense of paying for a full course of a drug that might have to be discarded after the first dose leads to a side effect. A frequent justification provided by physicians is that use of free samples provides access to necessary drugs for patients who could not otherwise afford them.1‐4 …