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Some Florida Medicare Users May Be Hit with Higher Drug Costs
By Bob LaMendola, South Florida Sun Sentinel
November 9, 2007
More than half of the 570,000 low-income Medicare recipients in Florida will be forced to change their prescription coverage or pay more per month on Jan. 1 because their drug plans are raising prices too much, consumer advocates said Thursday.
Many low-income people are unaware of or confused about the issue and may wind up unable to pay the higher prices or unable to get medicine if they switch to a drug plan that doesn't cover what they take, advocates said.
"We fear there will be bad health outcomes," said Anne Swerlick, deputy director of Florida Legal Services, one of three nonprofit agencies that raised the issue at a news briefing. "When you have people with serious health conditions, it's nightmarish for them to navigate all this."
Nationwide, the change affects one-quarter of 9.2 million low-income seniors and disabled recipients. Low income is under $15,315 for individuals, $23,410 for couples.
Medicare's drug program lets low-income recipients avoid premiums and co-payments if they join drug plans with premiums below a certain price, about $20 per month in Florida next year. But eight of this year's 10 qualifying plans in Florida will not qualify next year because they raised prices, including popular plans from Humana and AARP.
As a result, 230,000 Floridians will automatically be switched into plans that do qualify. Another 80,000 will have to switch on their own or choose to pay premiums of up to $10 a month to stay in their plans, said the National Senior Citizens Law Center, one of the nonprofit groups.
Medicare recipients are getting letters to help them address the situation, but some will not take action or understand, said Kevin Prindiville, staff attorney at the senior law center. Those who switch may not find out until too late that the new plan does not cover their drugs, he said.
Medicare officials were not available for comment.
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