Medicare's New Prescription-Drug Program

▪ 2005

      Although the new prescription-drug coverage feature of Medicare would not fully take effect until January 2006, a temporary step toward that goal was taken in 2004 with the issuance of Medicare-approved drug discount cards, which were made available to 41 million senior citizens on June 1.

      Under the stopgap plan, Medicare contracted with insurance companies, pharmacy-benefit managers, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), coalitions of pharmacies, and other private sources to offer the cards to elderly beneficiaries. Altogether, 29 issuers were approved, and 73 different cards bearing Medicare's logo were issued, each with its own list of the drugs that were covered, the discounts offered, and the pharmacies and other sources from which they could be purchased. At least two cards were to be available in every area, but enrollees could sign up for only one.

      While prices and covered drugs could be changed weekly by the sponsors, once a Medicare beneficiary signed up for a card, that choice could not be changed until the end of the year. The cost of a card could not exceed $30 annually. Medicare officials expected discounts to run from 10% to 25% of retail prices, with greater savings on highly competitive drugs and generic medicines. In addition, Medicare enrollees with annual incomes of $12,569 or less ($16,862 for a married couple) could receive $600 in credit on their cards in 2004 and another $600 in 2005 to spend on medicines. Low-income persons who already had drug coverage from Medicaid were not eligible for those added subsidies.

      Despite the benefits and an intensive campaign to publicize and explain the discount cards, the program generated a mixed response. Medicare officials originally estimated that 7.3 million people would apply for the cards, but four months after the program began, only 4.5 million had signed up, and more than half of those had been automatically enrolled by their HMOs or other health plans. In September the administration announced that it would send discount cards to 1.8 million low-income people who were eligible but had not applied.

      One of the most common criticisms was that the prices, discounts, and covered drugs changed constantly, which made it difficult for individuals to determine which card offered them the greatest savings. Officials explained that the changes occurred because sponsors kept adding new pharmacies and negotiating better prices from drugmakers. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health found that seniors felt ambivalent about the discount cards. They said that they appreciated the immediate help until full prescription benefits became available, but a majority felt that the cards were confusing and were not worth the trouble because they did not do enough to help people with their drug costs.

David M. Mazie

* * *