Association of co-pay elimination with medication adherence and total cost.

Objectives: To determine whether elimination of co-pays for prescription drugs affects medication adherence and total health care spending.

Study Design: Retrospective comparative study.

Methods: We conducted a difference-in-differences comparison in the year before and after expansion of a Zero Dollar Co-pay (ZDC) prescription drug benefit in commercially insured Louisiana residents.

Delayed emergencies: The composition and magnitude of non-respiratory emergency department visits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Importance: COVID-19 has been associated with excess mortality among patients not diagnosed with COVID-19, suggesting disruption of acute health care provision may play a role.

Objective: To determine the degree of declines in emergency department (ED) visits attributable to COVID-19 and determine whether these declines were concentrated among patients with fewer comorbidities and lower severity visits.

Design: We conducted a differences-in-differences analysis of all commercial health insurance claims for ED visits in the first 20 weeks of 2018, 2019, and 2020.

Value-based insurance design in Louisiana: Blue Cross Blue Shield's Zero Dollar Co-pay program.

Objectives: To determine whether a program that eliminated pharmacy co-pays, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana (BCBSLA) Zero Dollar Co-pay (ZDC) program, decreased health care spending. Previous studies have found that value-based insurance designs like the ZDC program have little or no impact on total health care spending. ZDC included an expansive set of medications related to 4 chronic diseases rather than a limited set of medications for 1 or 2 chronic diseases.