Many Elderly Waive Part D

More than half of elderly Americans in the U.S. government Medicare program who didn't have drug benefits chose to continue buying medicine with their own money rather than register for coverage offered last year, a study has found.

About 7.4 million Medicare recipients who pay cash for drugs didn't enroll in the Part D drug plan during its first year, according to a study released yesterday by IMS Health Inc., a pharmaceutical research group based in Norwalk , Conn. The 23.9 million enrollees in 2006 paid an average of $385 a year as a premium for drug coverage up to $250 and partial coverage for added costs.

Healthy Medicare recipients might have waived the drug program to save money, betting their out-of-pocket costs would be less than the premiums, the researchers said. Even Medicare patients who don't take prescription drugs should consider the program, in case they develop more serious conditions, AARP and Medicare specialists say.

"A lot of people did what's called the kitchen-table test: They basically added up the cost of drugs they're taking now, and if it was less than Part D, they didn't enroll," said Cheryl Matheis, the director of health strategies for AARP, the largest advocacy group for Americans over age 50, in Washington. "They need to be factoring in the risk and thinking of this as insurance."

Some seniors will need more prescriptions over the course of a year, she said.

"It's not like when you're younger and you take a drug for an infection for 14 days," Matheis said. "For chronic conditions, like heart conditions and cholesterol, you take the medication every day for the rest of your life."

A quarter of the 486 million prescriptions filled under Part D in 2006 treated high blood pressure, the most common ailment for the program's patients, the study found. Drugs for high cholesterol, depression, diabetes and ulcers were also among the top 10 prescriptions.

Those who didn't register might not have known about Medicare's Part D program, created by Congress in 2003 and enacted in 2006. Seniors can enroll in the drug plan only from Nov. 15 to Dec. 31 of each year.

"Sometimes they're unaware," said Steve Hahn, spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. "Sometimes it's more expensive for them to join, so they choose to wait until they need to."

Medicare encourages patients to register for drug coverage as soon as they can, Hahn said. Monthly premiums, which will average about $25 this year, increase by 1 percent for every month eligible patients wait to enroll, he said.

About 43 million Americans 65 or older or disabled people of any age participate in Medicare's medical insurance program, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.