Now a new analysis, published online May 1 by the journal Neurology, suggests that the costs of care are dramatically increasing for those with MS. The authors of the paper, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, found that out-of-pocket expenses for those with neurological conditions in the United States exceed $500 billion annually, and that these charges increased by a factor of 20 over a 12-year period from 2004 to 2016 for people with multiple sclerosis.
Physicians Are Often Unaware of Treatment Costs
“I hope our findings raise patient and physician awareness of this important topic so that more discussions are had related to out-of-pocket costs,” notes a coauthor of the study, Brian Callaghan, MD, the Fovette E. Dush Early Career Professor of Neurology at the University of Michigan. “Physicians rarely have access to this type of information, and [they] need better access to out-of-pocket costs to best guide patients through these tough decisions.” Dr. Callaghan says he and his colleagues “decided to look into out-of-pocket costs for common neurologic conditions because we didn’t know what [they] are or how they’ve changed over time.” They analyzed out-of-pocket medication costs for more than 912,000 people with MS, peripheral neuropathy, epilepsy, dementia, or Parkinson’s disease using a large healthcare claims database. All the cases reviewed by the team were people who were privately insured and took at least one prescription neurologic medication.
Costs for MS Rose More Steeply Than for Other Neurological Conditions
After assessing costs for the top five most commonly prescribed medications for each condition, as well as any other known high-cost drugs, they found that out-of-pocket costs for MS drugs showed the steepest monthly increase, from an average out-of-pocket cost of $15 a month in 2004 to an average of $309 a month in 2016. In addition, in 2016, people with MS enrolled in high-deductible insurance plans paid an average of $661 per month in out-of-pocket costs for medications compared with $246 a month for those not in high-deductible plans. In all, 5 percent of those with MS included in the analysis had total out-of-pocket costs of roughly $10,000 or more over the course of two years.
AAN to Advocate for Better Drug-Pricing Policies
“Everyone deserves affordable access to the medications that will be most beneficial, but if the drugs are too expensive, people may simply not take them, possibly leading to medical complications and higher costs later,” commented Ralph L. Sacco, MD, the president of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), which funded the research, in a press release. To address this issue, the AAN has created a Neurology Drug Pricing Task Force to advocate for “better drug-pricing policies.” While Callaghan emphasizes that cost shouldn’t trump safety and efficacy in the selection of treatment for MS, those with the condition should talk about expenses with their physicians — especially if cost is adding to the stress associated with managing their health. “Patients can ask their doctors if there are cheaper alternatives to the medications they are prescribing,” he notes. “Oftentimes, patients and physicians have choices between comparable medications, but cost is usually not the main factor that drives the decision on which medications to use.”
