Unlocking health equity by eliminating copayments for essential antihypertensive medications.
review · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39975701.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1016/j.eclinm.2025.103094 and PMC identifier 11833357.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Hypertension kills more people than any other condition; approximately 80% of deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Only about 1 in 5 adults with hypertension worldwide and less than 1 in 10 in LMICs have their condition controlled. Adherence to antihypertensive medications increases control and decreases hospitalizations, strokes, heart attacks, and health care costs. Eliminating patient copayments for antihypertensive medications increases adherence and hypertension control. This powerful but underutilized strategy can advance universal health coverage and reduce economic hardship. Medication access with no out-of-pocket cost to patients is feasible and economically sound, but requires increased investment and careful implementation to avoid unintended consequences of reducing flexible funding needed for primary health care systems. Provision of medications that are free to patients at the point of care should be part of a multi-component, sustainable approach to addresses systemic barriers to treatment of hypertension, the world's leading cause of death.