Getting diabetes drugs and supplies for free sounds like it would be a great idea for patients. However, the ultimate question that has to be answered is whether people with diabetes improve or have better diabetes management when the prices of the treatments are removed. A new study has looked into the matter and recently revealed its findings.
Providing some free medical supplies and medications is hardly a new idea. And this version of the concept is part of a program that is known as ‘value-based insurance design’. With a value-based insurance design program, your company would pay for your diabetes drugs and treatments for you. However, at the same time, if you requested a procedure that your company felt was not needed, it might tell you to pay for it.
This innovative approach runs on the idea that a patient’s co-pay or out-of-pocket medical expenses should be based on the value of the treatment to the person’s health rather than how much it costs. In a new study that was published in Population Health Management, experts from three different facilities in Pennsylvania and Delaware looked at reports from patients on the subject.
The study showed that 90 percent of the patients said they had followed their treatment programs more precisely. The patients also said they had improved their management of other conditions. More than half said that the program had allowed them to take drugs that they wouldn’t have been able to take before.
The study was limited as it was fairly small. But overall this shows a positive trend for the program and could suggest that more people should consider it as a potential option to reduce the cost of treatments.
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