few patients could afford that (including Ms. Chapman, who had switched to a less demanding job, with a lower salary, to accommodate her condition). As a result, drug companies invented “co-pay assistance,” a unique form of self-interested corporate charity to cover patients’ co-payments—a “donation”—so that the manufacturers can continue to submit bills for the full price of the drug to insurers. A direct payment by the drug company could be considered a kind of bribe, so foundations with noble-sounding missions like “ending healthcare disparities” were often created to cut the checks. On
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