COVID-19 has not stopped the wheels of policy bureaucracy from grinding. Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its final Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for the 2021 benefit year. You’ll find the document links below.

What that would mean for patients who rely on those fills counting toward their deductibles, should insurers take the pass offered by HHS, is that not only would those patients be on the hook for their own deductibles—but that, when they reach their max on their copay cards, if they haven’t yet met their deductible, they’re also on the hook for whatever their share of the cost of those meds is until they do hit their deductible.