PART D HELPS, BUT SICKEST STILL SKIP DOSES

The Part D prescription drug benefit has helped reduce the number of people with Medicare who skip doses or otherwise alter their medication regimen because of costs, but it has had little impact on the behavior of people with Medicare who have severe illnesses or disabilities, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The survey found modest declines after Part D began in 2006 in the number of people with Medicare who skipped doses, split pills or skimped on food and other necessities because of the cost of drugs. The survey included people with Medicare enrolled in Part D and those who remain without drug coverage or who have drug coverage through an employer.

The results were less positive among people who have Medicare because of a disability or those in poor health or with multiple illnesses. Although these individuals were less likely to forgo spending on necessities after Part D began, there was no decline in skipping doses or other “cost-related nonadherence” to drug regimens. The authors explained that many of these individuals already had drug coverage through Medicaid prior to Part D. Also, individuals with serious health problems are more likely to have drug spending high enough to put them in the “doughnut hole,” the gap in Part D coverage when enrollees must begin to pay the full cost of their drugs.

-- Adapted from: “PART D HELPS, BUT SICKEST STILL SKIP DOSES DUE TO COST” MEDICARE WATCH, a biweekly electronic newsletter of the Medicare Rights Center, Vol. 11, No. 9: April 29, 2008.

05/08