Doctors take on Highmark on office-visit drug co-pays

Highmark Inc.'s recent decision to charge Medicare customers $25 co-payments on certain injected drugs--chemotherapy agents, immunosuppressants, anemia drugs--is becoming a financial burden to a number of customers who require such injections several times a week. A spokesman for Highmark said the new charges were needed to defray the rising cost of the injected drugs, which can run from $100 to $30,000 per dose, depending on the drug.