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Maryland Cutting Drug Costs For Elderly
By
Mary Otto and Lori Montgomery
Maryland
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and state health officials yesterday announced
the start of an ambitious program to help as many as 50,000 low-income
senior citizens with the rising cost of prescription drugs, filling a
gaping hole in traditional Medicare coverage. Under
the Maryland Pharmacy Discount Program, which took effect yesterday,
elderly Marylanders who make too much to qualify for Medicaid but too
little to afford private health insurance will be eligible for pharmacy
discounts of up to 50 percent on many prescription drugs. "It's
that portion of the population that gets no help at all with prescription
drugs," said Nelson Sabatini, secretary of the Maryland Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene. Though
many states provide elderly residents with some form of prescription drug
assistance, the Maryland program is the first in the nation to combine
state and federal subsidies with a controversial requirement that drug
manufacturers sell drugs to Medicare recipients at the same discounted
rate offered to recipients of Medicaid, the national health plan for the
poor. Medicare,
the national health insurance program for the elderly, does not cover most
prescriptions. Officials estimate that about a third of Maryland's 600,000
Medicare recipients currently lack any form of pharmaceutical coverage,
though Congress is debating a plan to bridge that gap. The
Maryland program was created two years ago at the height of national
anxiety about Medicare recipients who had been impoverished by
skyrocketing medication costs, which have risen faster than any other
facet of health care. Drafted
by then-House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. (D-Allegany) and shepherded
through the legislature by Del. Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel), the
plan called on state health officials to petition the federal government
to allow the state to offer the Medicaid discount to low-income seniors. Last
year, the Bush administration approved the plan and agreed to match $8
million in state funding. State health officials said it took another year
to draft regulations and implement the program. Under
the plan, Medicare recipients who make up to 175 percent of the federal
poverty level (or roughly $15,715 for an individual and $21,210 for a
couple) would be eligible. Program participants will receive a discount of
about 15 percent on medications by gaining access to the reduced-price
drugs offered to Medicaid recipients. In addition, the state will give
them a pharmacy card that qualifies them to receive an additional 35
percent discount when they go to the drugstore to fill their
prescriptions. The
benefits could add up to a savings of about $750 per person per year,
state officials said. They urged qualified seniors to call 1-800-226-2142
to apply. "This
program broadens access to, in many cases, life-altering, lifesaving,
life-lengthening medications," Ehrlich (R) said during a news
conference at the Robert Pascal Senior Center in Glen Burnie. Busch,
who this year succeeded Taylor as House speaker, faulted Ehrlich for
failing to notify him and other lawmakers who had fought for the program
over the objections of well-funded drug company lobbyists. "Quite
candidly, the legislature had to take a courageous stand against the
pharmaceutical makers to put all this into place," Busch said.
"If Ehrlich is trying to suggest . . . that this is an initiative of
this administration, I think that would be less than honest." Press
secretary Greg Massoni said Busch was invited to the event late yesterday
morning and failed to show up. Senior
citizens on hand for the announcement said they were optimistic about the
program. "Sure
I'm interested," said Pauline Ellis, 86, who said she spends $500 a
month on prescription drugs and takes them on alternate days to make them
last. Her
friend Anna Gambal, 86, said she takes her medications every day but
scrimps on food to pay for them. "If
I get a break on pills," she said, "I'll be able to eat ice
cream again." Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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