Ability to Pay for Medication: A Clustering Analysis of 1404 Patients with the Patient Financial Evaluation Tool

This study analyzed financial data from over 1,400 patients in Thailand, UAE, and Mexico to see how well Axios’ Patient Financial Evaluation Tool (PFET), a tool that combines income, assets, and standard of living, captures a person’s true ability to pay for medication. The analysis found seven distinct patient profiles and showed that the mix of financial factors driving someone’s wealth status looks different from country to country.

• About 14% of patients were consistently well-off across all financial measures, while nearly half (48%) were consistently low-income, with the remaining group showing a mix of financial strengths and weaknesses.
• The financial factor that mattered most varied by country: income was the clearest signal of wealth in Mexico, while standard of living mattered most in the UAE, reflecting differences like informal cash economies and expatriate populations whose assets are held elsewhere.
• The results confirm that no single measure, like income alone, reliably predicts someone’s real ability to pay across different markets, supporting the case for a more holistic financial assessment tool.
• This kind of nuanced financial assessment allows access programs to ask patients to contribute what they realistically can, stretching limited subsidy funds further toward the patients who need them most.
• The PFET is a versatile tool that can be adapted to each country’s economic context to assess patients’ ability to contribute to their medication costs.