The ADA Standards of Care recommend that all patients with diabetes at risk of hypoglycemia have glucagon available for emergency use. However, glucagon prescriptions are filled by only a small minority of patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes in the United States each year. While there are multiple barriers to glucagon use, the extent to which out-of-pocket medication costs contributes to low uptake is not clear.

Using administrative claims from Optum’s de-identified Clinformatics® Data Mart Database (2007-2019) for adults with commercial or Medicaid insurance from 2010-2020, we sought to describe the trends in out-of-pocket costs for glucagon over time. Analyzed claims included all fills of glucagon, based on National Drug Codes, from 20through 9/30/2020. Our primary outcome was total out-of-pocket costs defined as the sum of copays and deductibles. Costs were adjusted for inflation based on 2020 dollars and scaled per single-use kit. Insurance type was based on the primary payor at the time of the glucagon fill.

The median (IQR) out-of-pocket cost of unmixed glucagon was $27.42 (15.09-37.98) in 2010, $33.58 (5.60-41.97) in 2015, and $30.42 (15.21-40.56) in 2020 for commercially insured beneficiaries. For Medicare beneficiaries, cost for unmixed glucagon was $0 (0-25.35) in 2010, $0 (0-33.58) in 2015, and $0 (0-40.56) in 2020. After introduction in 2019, the 2020 out-of-pocket cost of intranasal glucagon was $15.21 (7.60-35.49) for commercially insured beneficiaries and $10.14 (0.99-23.83) for Medicare beneficiaries.

Out-of-pocket costs for unmixed glucagon was stable for most commercially insured patients, and $0 for most Medicare beneficiaries from 20through 2020; therefore, cost should not serve as the primary barrier to accessing glucagon for most patients. However, for the subset of patients (4th quartile) with the highest out-of-pocket costs in both insurance groups, the cost of unmixed glucagon has increased over time. Novel intranasal glucagon had lower out-of-pocket cost compared to unmixed glucagon for most commercially insured patients immediately after introduction.

Disclosure

M.Zupa: None. R.Feldman: None. J.Luo: None.

Funding

NCATS KL2 (TR001856)

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