Higher co-pay, less cancer therapy

NEW YORK, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have linked higher health insurance co-payments with less breast cancer therapy compliance.

Dr. Dawn Hershman of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University and colleagues say co-payments of more than $90.00 for younger patients and more than $30.00 for those age 65 and older increased the chances of early discontinuation or incomplete use of adjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy -- a key part of therapy for women with hormone sensitive early-stage breast cancer.

"When we have highly effective medications available, we need to try to set limits on potential barriers to use like co-payments," Hershman said in a statement. "Based on these findings, future public policy efforts should be directed towards reducing financial constraints as a means of increasing the complete use of these medications."

Hershman and colleagues looked at anonymous prescription information over a two-year period for 8,110 women ages 50-65 and 14,050 women age 65 or older prescribed aromatase inhibitors.

More than 20 percent of those age 50-65 stopped taking the medication and 10.3 percent did not take it as directed 80 percent of the time. Among those age 65 or older, almost 25 percent stopped taking the medication and of those who continued, 8.9 percent were non-adherent.

The findings were presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.