Limiting cost-sharing would increase annual premiums by $3

A bill that would require healthcare plans to limit cost-sharing requirements for specialty drug tiers would increase annual premiums by $3 on average, according to an analysis by Avalere Health LLC. The Patients' Access to Treatments Act ( H.R. 460) would require plans to limit cost-sharing requirements for specialty drug tiers to the level of cost sharing required for non-preferred brand drug tiers. Avalere estimated that without any other changes to benefits, plans with co-pays for specialty tiers would see an annual average increase of $0.37, while plans that use co-insurance for specialty tiers would have an average increase of $7.78, making the average change $3 overall. For plans that raise co-payments instead of premiums, Avalere estimated that non-preferred tier co-pays would increase by $6 while preferred tier co-pays would increase $0.75 and generic tier co-pays would increase by $0.50. ...