Increasing prescription drug cost-sharing by patients - in the form of increasing copayments - is one of the most striking, and controversial, developments in the health sector over recent years. Debate over the exact nature and use of copayments by health care insurers continues to be hotly debated by experts in the private and public sectors.
Differential copayments for medically equivalent alternatives is one strategy insurers use to affect the choice of one drug over another when they face different prices for each drug. This book's results suggest that differences in copayments...

The increasing proliferation of copayments is one of the most striking developments in the health sector of the past few years. This study examines the influence of copayments imposed by insurers on the choice of drugs with the implication that physicians are acting in patients' financial as well as medical interest.