Patient advocacy groups are hailing a new court ruling that could significantly reduce pharmaceutical costs for some patients.

On September 29, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia struck down an administrative rule from the Trump era that allowed health insurers to not count drug manufacturers' copay assistance toward a patient's out-of-pocket costs. The rule was especially burdensome for those with chronic diseases that involve expensive drugs, resulting in more out-of-pocket costs for patients who received the copay assistance.

Three patient advocacy groups, the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, Diabetes Leadership Council, and the Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition, along with three patients affected by the rule, took the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to court over the issue. They argued that "copay accumulator" policies allowed health insurers to profit from copay assistance programs, without reducing the financial burden on patients, as the assistance programs were meant to do.