Abstract
The uninsured population has much to gain from affordable sources of prescription medications. No prior studies have assessed the prevalence and predictors of low-cost generic drug programs (LCGP) use in the uninsured population in the United States. A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) during 2007–2012 including individuals aged 18 and older who were uninsured for the entire 2-year period they were in MEPS. The proportions of LCGP fills and users was tracked each year and logistic regression was used to assess significant factors associated with LCGP use. A total of 8.3 million uninsured individuals were represented by the sample and 39.9% of these used an LCGP. Differences between users and non-users included higher age, gender, year of participation, and number of medications filled. The proportion of fills and users via LCGPs increased over the 2007–2012 study period. Healthcare providers, especially pharmacists, should make uninsured patients aware of this source of affordable medications.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-4-2016
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy4010014
Repository Citation
Brown, Joshua D.; Pauly, Nathan J.; and Talbert, Jeffery C., "The Prevalence and Predictors of Low-Cost Generic Program Use in a Nationally Representative Uninsured Population" (2016). Pharmacy Practice and Science Faculty Publications. 26.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/pps_facpub/26
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Pharmacy, v. 4, issue 1, 14, p. 1-10.
© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons by Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).