Drug caps, the maximum number of prescriptions or drugs that a health plan will cover and copayment policies can decrease overall drug use as well as insurers' pharmacy spending. The researchers found reductions in drug use for both life-sustaining drugs and drugs that are important in treating chronic conditions. These policies tend to make consumers shoulder some of the cost of prescriptions, say the authors, and the cost could be a barrier to medication adherence, although the authors emphasize that patient outcomes were not included in the research.
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