Use of drug discount card not what some expected

July 5, 2004

(I was contacted by my pharmacy last week saying they will no longer take my

insurance. Anyone else?)

D03070504.htm

Seniors' mailboxes have been overflowing with offers for a new Medicare drug

discount card, but try finding a pharmacist who had seen more than a few.

A month after 41 million Americans became eligible to apply for help in

cutting costs on prescriptions, it appears the glut of card offers is making

it tough for some seniors to decide just which one is best for them, area

pharmacists say...

" It seems like we have got to go through a lot of red tape to get it, " said

the grandmother of 14, talking about her hesitance to investigate what each

card has to offer. " We're always afraid something is going to be pulled over

on us. " ...

At the chain drug stores, the cards are more commonly presented, but not as

many as one might expect considering that 41 million U.S. seniors are

eligible for it and 10 million of them have no drug insurance. Their

reluctance to sign on is getting costlier by the day: Wednesday, the AARP

released a report showing that increases in drug prices continue to escalate

steadily, even as inflation drops...

.... the Medicare discount drug card's prices are 40 to 60 percent higher

than what is available to veterans. But ph Adelmann, 82, of Ormond Beach

hasn't gotten far enough to look at prices...

.... case management director for the Council on Aging, cast doubt on

Medicare's estimate that 8.7 percent of eligible seniors have signed up for

the Medicare drug cards. A Medicare spokesman said that the government

doesn't have numbers available showing the geographical breakdown of

enrollees nor does it have the total who have signed up for the low-income

credit.

said according to what she's heard, it doesn't add up.

" We're not seeing those percentages jump forward and sign up for these

cards, " she said....

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