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Program for seniors is lifesaver By
Susan Jaffe When Willie Lee Roberts, 74,
couldn't afford his prescription drugs for diabetes, he would go without
or take some of his diabetic son's medicine. Eva Reed, 75, took one pill a
day instead of the prescribed two when she ran low. Shirley Hull, 69, gambled by
skipping her blood pressure and diabetes medicine. She ended up in the
hospital. "I had to pay my bills and
I had to eat," she said. "I'd be in worse shape if I couldn't
eat." An unusual program - perhaps
the only one of its kind in Ohio - came to the aid of the three Sandusky
residents. Erie County's Serving Our Seniors, a nonprofit group in
Sandusky that contracts with the county to provide services to seniors, is
using taxpayer money from a senior-services tax issue and donations to buy
prescription drugs for older adults. The drugs are purchased at retail
prices from a local independent pharmacy. The Affordable Medication
Program isn't a discount card plan or health insurance. It provides dozens
of drugs to 70 Erie County seniors, for a nominal monthly fee. Most pay
$10 or less for drugs that otherwise would cost as much as $400 a month. Participants have to live in
Erie County, be 60 or older and have been diagnosed with any of six common
chronic but treatable diseases: diabetes, arthritis, congestive heart
failure, high blood pressure, cataracts or glaucoma. They also must
provide financial information that shows they cannot afford to buy
medicine along with food and other necessities. There are 112 people on
the program's waiting list. Officials at Ohio AARP and the
Ohio Department of Aging didn't know of any similar program in Ohio. And
while some states provide free or almost free medicine to the elderly
under certain conditions, few, if any, counties in the country have
managed to do it. "It's unusual,
particularly since it's locally funded," said Patrick Libbey,
executive director of the National Association of County and City Health
Officials, in Washington, D.C. The senior-services levy
provides $44,000 a year for the program. Nearly $12,000 more comes from
private donations and an annual auction. People bid on such items as a
chance to attend an Indians game with the sheriff or a dinner and show
with a county commissioner. The Ohio attorney general's
office gave the program $25,000 from a lawsuit settlement involving a drug
company. That will get seven more seniors into the program. Private
donations such as $1,500 from an American Legion post and $100 sent in
last week by Sandusky's Perry High School faculty also help. The program's staff also has
aided 228 seniors with incomes low enough for drug-manufacturer discount
cards and helped 240 others sign up for programs that provide certain
drugs from specific companies for free. The Affordable Medication Program
pays the monthly fees for manufacturer discount cards. Hull receives partial help from
the program so that Medicaid will cover the rest of the cost of her drugs.
Still, she didn't have to think long about whether she could manage
without it. "I'd probably be passed
away," she said. Sue Daugherty, Serving Our
Seniors' executive director, acknowledges that the program can't help
every senior who needs it. "What keeps others from
doing this is that the problem is mammoth. It's intimidating, so you don't
try," she said. "This is our way of chipping away at the
problem." Doing something is better than
waiting, she said. Proposals by the Bush administration and Congress to
add a prescription drug benefit under Medicare are mired in political
differences. Gov. Bob Taft's drug discount card is stalled after drawing
opposition from drug manufacturers and pharmacies. "I don't care how small of
a population you serve - get started. Start small," Daugherty said. But even a program as
restrictive as the one in Erie County wouldn't work in Cuyahoga County,
said Susan Axelrod, director of the Cuyahoga County Department of Senior
and Adult Services. "The number of people in
Cuyahoga who would be eligible would still be a large number, and the cost
would be prohibitive," she said. But in Sandusky, Willie Lee
Roberts and his wife, Lucille, both benefit from the program. He calls it
a "godsend." "Any time you don't have to go into your pocket, you feel blessed," said Roberts, who worked in a Sandusky steel mill for 27 years. "And there's nothing in my pocket to get." Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
