Drug coupons are common in the United States. AFAIU, they're issued by the pharmaceutical companies, but as few people know about them (or how the pricing syste

Drug coupons are common in the United States. AFAIU, they're issued by the pharmaceutical companies, but as few people know about them (or how the pricing system is structured in general) it's often doctors and pharmacies that seem to help broker their distribution. The coupon system permits pharmaceuticals and friendly politicians to deflect criticism about drug pricing strategies by providing plausible deniability regarding costs to the uninsured and underinsured. I remember reading several years ago reports that drug companies were favoring coupon distribution to doctors according to how often doctors prescribed the issuer's name-brand drugs instead of generics. That is, a doctor who prescribed a designer expensive drug, Foo, more often might get more coupons for name-brand but boring drug, Bar, for distribution to the doctor's indigent patients. I don't remember, however, if or which reforms were enacted as a result. Also, I'm not sure if it was nearly as big of an issue as actual kick-backs in the form of vacations, etc, which (AFAIU) were made illegal years ago. The opacity and overall baroqueness of the coupon system is precisely why there's not much opportunity for doctors to personally benefit from the scheme, yet why it works well as a tool for pharmaceutical companies to maximize profits while staving off political reforms. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_coupon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_coupon