Covered California weighs plan to reduce financial burden of expensive drugs for people with serious illnesses

Covered California, the state’s Obamacare health insurance exchange, could alter the way consumers pay for extremely expensive specialty drugs, but patient advocates say that medications for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and hepatitis C will still cost too much.

The exchange’s board of directors, which meets today, is scheduled to consider a proposal that would set a maximum monthly co-insurance cost of $200 to $500 per prescription.

Currently, consumers pay 10 percent to 30 percent of the drug costs, which can run into thousands of dollars and cause them to quickly reach their plan’s maximum annual out-of-pocket spending limits, which range from $2,250 to $6,250.

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