Table III:

Responses to Price Changes Can Have Large Health Implications

Study	Price Change	Use Change	Health Value [illustrative fact]
Chandra et al. (2010)	$7 ↑ in drug copay (from ~$1 to ~$8)	Elasticities: .15 for essential drugs; .23 for asthma meds, .12 for cholesterol meds, .22 for depression meds	Offsetting 6% ↑ in hospitalization
Hsu et al. (2006)	Imposition of $1000 annual Rx cap	↑ in non-adherence to antihypertensives, statins, diabetes drugs by ~30%	13% ↑ in nonelective hospital use; 3% ↑ in high blood pressure (among hypertensives); 9% ↑ in high cholesterol (among hyperlipidemics); 16% ↓ in glycemic control (among diabetics)
Lohr et al. (1986)	Cost-sharing vs. none in RAND	↓ in use of insulin by 44%, beta blockers by 40%, antidepressants by 36%	[Consistent filling of diabetic med prescriptions ↓ hospitalization risk from 20–30% down to 13% (Sokol et al. 2005)]
Selby et al. (1996)	Introduction of $25–$35 ER copay	9.6% ↓ in visits for emergency conditions	Emergency conditions included coronary arrest, heart attack, appendicitis, respiratory failure, etc.
Choudhry et al. (2011)	Elimination of Rx copays for post-heart attack patients	4–6 percentage point ↑ in medication adherence	Rates of total major vascular events ↓ by 1.8 ppt, heart attacks by 1.1 ppt

Sources: Authors’ summary of literature (see bibliography); additional unpublished detail provided by Chandra et al. Notes: Health value comes from same study when available. [“Illustrative facts” come from other studies.]