Drug coupons mask drugs' real costs

What would make your medicines cheaper?

That’s a question Americans are asking every time they go to the pharmacy and find the price of a maintenance drug they’ve been taking has doubled or tripled, or that a new medicine, like one of the new diabetes drugs, their doctors have prescribed is beyond their means.

Increasingly the answer from the drug industry, which pretty much can charge whatever it wishes, is more patient assistance programs that come in the form of coupons, co-pay cards, or vouchers to help people buy their drugs. People needing help can also apply directly to a pharmaceutical...