Crummy Coupons

When low copay generic drugs face identical higher copay patent drugs, patients buy generics. If, however, the brand-name drug comes with a coupon reducing the copay below that of the generic drug copay, patent drug sales rise. Regrettably, the coupon doesn’t lower the amount paid by the insurer for the identical high-priced name-brand drug. Thus, coupons needlessly raise drug spending by billions/year and should be prohibited when generics exist.