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by Amanda Conschafter, blog editor

Patients with chronic or serious medical conditions must sometimes work with physicians for months to identify a medication that’s effective for them. But as a new video from the Alliance for Patient Access explains, patients may discover that this trial-and-error process was in vain. Through non-medical switching, insurers can compel patients to set aside their effective therapy for a less costly alternative—for reasons unrelated to patient health.

As “Understanding Non-Medical Switching” explains, this medication swap can take different forms:

Patients who lose access to their physician-prescribed medication can face re-emerging symptoms or side effects – hurting patients and introducing new expenses for insurers through doctor or emergency room visits, lab tests or hospitalizations.

In response, several states have introduced legislation to restrict non-medical switching. These bills may:

To learn more, watch “Understanding Non-Medical Switching.”

 

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