Chronically ill facing high drugs costs under U.S. health law

By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama's ban on discriminatory health insurance practices against the sick has not stopped insurers from increasing up-front charges for the expensive drugs needed to control chronic illnesses from leukemia to multiple sclerosis. Actuarial studies of plans sold through health insurance marketplaces in some states found that many make consumers responsible for as much as 50 percent of the price of specialty drugs, which can cost $8,000 or more a month. Long before the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, became law in 2010, insurers began replacing fixed-dollar co-payments for the drugs with co-insurance rates that require consumers to pay a percentage of the cost of specialty medicines. Therefore, any discussion of prescription drug coverage must also include a focus on the direct link between rising prescription drug prices and consumer cost sharing," said Clare Krusing, spokeswoman for America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade and lobbying group.