Impact of Copayment Changes on Children's Albuterol Inhaler Use and Costs after the Clean Air Act Chlorofluorocarbon Ban.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To examine changes in children's albuterol use and out-of-pocket (OOP) costs in response to increased copayments after the Food and Drug Administration banned inhalers with chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) propellants.

Setting

Four health maintenance organizations (HMOs), two that increased copayments for albuterol inhalers that went from generic CFC-containing to branded CFC-free versions, and two that retained generic copayments for CFC-free inhalers (controls). We included children with asthma aged 4-17 years with commercial coverage from 2007 to 2010.

Design

Interrupted time series with comparison series.

Data

We obtained enrollee and plan characteristics from enrollment files, and utilization data from pharmacy and medical claims; OOP expenditures were e

SUBMITTER: Galbraith AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5785321 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature