When a Drug Coupon Helps You but Hurts Fellow Citizens
It’s completely rational for you to use coupons to reduce the cost of your brand-name drug purchase. But if the coupon is causing you to switch away from a generic drug with an overall lower cost, you may be playing a role in pushing up drug spending and premiums for others.

It’s completely rational for you to use coupons to reduce the cost of your brand-name drug purchase.

But if the coupon is causing you to switch away from a generic drug with an overall lower cost, you may be playing a role in pushing up drug spending and premiums for others.

Let’s say that I needed the brand drug Effexor XR, used to treat depression and anxiety disorders. It would cost me at least $65 a month on my health insurance plan. It retails for about twice that amount, and the difference would be picked up by my insurer. But the generic version, Venlafaxine, would cost my insurer far less, and my co-payment would be only $10 per month.

My insurer and I would both save money if I purchased the generic. Pfizer, which sells Effexor XR, would lose a sale.