This piece is a broad overview of manufacturer copay programs and what one Pharmacy Benefit Manager, OptumRx, is doing to blunt the negative financial impact they have on their customers.
In discussing adherence to formulary management and appropriate clinical utilization principles they also take a veiled stab at a controversial benefit design without naming it, Alternative Funding Programs. These programs exclude high cost drugs from the benefit and ask the patient to attempt to navigate a manufacturer's "free drug" programs first. These programs are designed to assist patients with no insurance coverage only but as employers become more desperate to control costs, plan designs are starting to pop up that will try to leverage these first before covering a drug for their employee.