Medicare cards little help
Dawn MacKeen
STAFF WRITER
July 15, 2004
Seniors in Nassau County can save more money purchasing top-selling medications through Canada and the Veterans Administration than with a new Medicare-approved drug card, according to a Congressional committee report issued Wednesday.
Democrats in the House Committee on Government Reform analyzed discounts offered by the 34 different cards in Nassau County. They found, for example, that seniors can get their prescriptions filled for almost the same price online at the Web site drugstore.com. “I think seniors should care because the federal government will be spending more than $500 billion to give them a prescription drug card that is not working,” said U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, who represents Nassau County and requested the study.
Seniors were able to start using the cards, which offer discounts of up to 18 percent on brand-name drugs, on June 1. Although there are no local numbers, the federal agency overseeing the program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services boasts 3.8 million enrollees nationwide, most of whom were signed up automatically.
Peter Ashkenaz, the agency’s spokesman, defended the program. “The cards are showing real savings,” he said, pointing out that the new report primarily compared the program to mail-order pharmacies, such as drugstore.com or ones in Canada. “And remember that most seniors prefer to buy their drugs at their neighborhood drug store.”
To many senior advocates, the results of the congressional study were hardly surprising. The recent findings mirror other studies examining the savings offered by the cards nationwide. The congressional study found that in Canada, a 30-day supply of Celebrex, an arthritis drug, costs $38.69 compared with the Medicare drug card’s $74.14. And through the Veterans Administration, for example, the acid reflux medication Protonix costs $44.31, in contrast to the card’s $68.71.
The new report says the only people who can benefit from the cards are low-income seniors, who don’t have to pay the annual fee of up to $30 for the card. Once a person enrolls, he or she can obtain a $600 credit to apply toward the purchase of prescription drugs. But to qualify for the subsidy, a person must earn less than $12,569 and a couple less than $16,862.
“The low-income are getting the benefit of the $600, but that’s really a small percentage,” said Roberta Monat, director of Long Island’s Jewish Association for Services for the Aged. “Most of our people have not even gotten them [the cards]… It’s much too confusing, convoluted, seniors can’t figure it out.”
In fact, more than 100,000 low-income seniors already in Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC) were automatically enrolled in First Health Services Corp.’s Medicare card program. That card saves the user less than any other, according to the report. “Our EPIC program receives drug manufacturer discounts on prescriptions, and the federal drug discount program is bringing additional cost savings,” said Rob Kenny, a state health department spokesman. But consumer advocates point out that the cards that offer the least savings can deplete a senior’s $600 subsidy faster.
“The Pataki administration should ask some very hard questions as to why the card it selected offers the worst deal,” said Robert Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, a Manhattan-based consumer group.
