MONDAY, Aug. 2, 2021 (HealthDay News) — High-deductible health plans (HDHPs) are associated with greater cost-related medication nonadherence (CRN) among adults with diabetes, according to a study published online July 29 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Charlotte Rastas, M.D., from Harvard University in Boston, and colleagues assessed the impact of HDHP on CRN among nonelderly U.S. adults with diabetes. The analysis included 7,469 privately insured adults enrolled in an HDHP or a traditional commercial health plan (TCP), who were prescribed diabetes medications.
The researchers found that HDHP enrollees were more likely than TCP enrollees to not fill a prescription (13.4 versus 9.9 percent; adjusted percentage point difference [AD], 3.4; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.5 to 5.4), skip medication doses (11.4 versus 8.5 percent; AD, 2.8; 95 percent CI, 1.0 to 4.7), take less medication (11.1 versus 8.8 percent; AD, 2.3; 95 percent CI, 0.5 to 4.0), delay filling a prescription to save money (14.4 versus 10.8 percent; AD, 3.0; 95 percent CI, 1.1 to 4.9), and have any form of CRN (20.4 versus 15.5 percent; AD, 4.4; 95 percent CI, 2.2 to 6.7). HDHP enrollees taking insulin were more likely to have any CRN (25.1 versus 18.9 percent; AD 5.9; 95 percent CI, 1.1 to 10.8).
“For people with diabetes, enrollment in non-HDHPs might reduce CRN to prescribed medications,” the authors write.
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