Free Drugs = Life + Cost Savings

Are some medicines so good they should be free? If we’re talking about ACE inhibitors and the 8 million Americans over age 65 with diabetes, the answer appears to be yes.

A new U-M Health System cost-benefit analysis indicates these drugs are so beneficial to this group of patients that even giving them away would save both lives and money in the long run by preventing costly heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure.

Currently, more than half of these patients are not taking ACE inhibitors to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of diabetes-related complications, says Allison Rosen, M.D., Sc.D., assistant professor of internal medicine in the Medical School and assistant professor in the School of Public Health, who directed the study.

The new Medicare prescription drug plan covers partial costs of medicines for people over age 65, and is expected to increase use of ACE inhibitors among seniors with diabetes. But under this plan, seniors will still pay part of their drug costs in the form of premiums, deductibles and co-pays.

“Out-of-pocket costs, such as co-pays, are designed to keep patients from over-using medications, but they also create barriers to the use of essential medications,” Rosen says. “Our analysis shows that removing all patient costs for diabetes patients taking ACE inhibitors could save Medicare both lives and money.”

—KEG

For an expanded version of the story:
www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2005/freemeds.htm

For patient information on type 2 diabetes:
www.med.umich.edu/1libr/aha/aha_noninsul_crs.htm