Fix Medicare Rx!

MEDICARE D DAY! - JANUARY 1, 2006

Medicare, for the first time since its beginning in the 1960’s, provides a prescription drug benefit. It is an almost incomprehensible benefit that will be too expensive for many seniors. Despite the rhetoric that describes this as the answer to senior’s demand for prescription drugs in Medicare, it can best be described as a new subsidy program for the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.

“This plan is fundamentally flawed,” said MSAC President John Bennett. “By bringing in all of these private drug plans they are putting the Medicare program at risk. We don’t need middlemen for a Medicare prescription drug program. This is what you get when you let the pharmaceutical companies influence health care public policy. ”

Put The Meds In Medicare!
On January 1, 2006 – Medicare D Day – MSAC launched a campaign to Put The Meds in Medicare! We raised this same cry in the community 3 years ago. Then we were fighting for a prescription drug program in Medicare. Now in 2006 we are fighting for the same thing! This confusing array of private companies is only making the program more complicated and more costly.

Medicare does a good job of administering health insurance to those of us over 65 and to people with disabilities who qualify. It is the one single payer health care system working tin the US to deliver health insurance. Unlike private insurance companies that spend 20% - 40% of their income to administer the program Medicare only pays 2% -3%.

What good does it do to bring 17 companies with 44 plans to Massachusetts to deliver a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan? NONE!

Let Medicare Negotiate
The crafters of the Medicare Modernization Act promised that private prescription drug plans would negotiate lower drug prices saving money for the Medicare program. But a recent study by Families USA entitled Getting the Best Price: Lessons Learned from the Medicare Discount Card Program found that for the 50 drugs most frequently prescribed to seniors, the prices for drugs using the discount cards was considerably higher than the prices paid by the Veterans Administration. For instance, a years supply of 10 mg Zocor cost 524% more with the Medicare approved discount card than the Veterans Administration paid for the drug.
Putting the Meds in Medicare and negotiating lower prices will keep the program viable and dampen the price gouging practices of the pharmaceutical industry.
Bring Down the Cost
Many Medicare beneficiaries will find that they can’t afford to participate in the new program. For those whose income is less than $11,500 for a single person or $23,000 for a couple, there will be help paying for premiums, deductibles, and co-payment. Everyone else will face a program with a “doughnut hole” where the plan pays $0 for prescriptions!
Protect the Most Vulnerable
Several efforts are underway to protect Medicare beneficiaries during the implementation process. Mass Health and Prescription Advantage plan participants were forced to switch January 1, leaving many confused. MSAC and other advocacy groupshelped to pass legislation to secure a 30 day supply of a prescription if the pharmacy refuses to honor prescriptions because the drug is not covered.
MSAC is also part of a lawsuit initiated by the Medicare Rights Center calling for a continuation of Medicaid (Mass Health) for another 6 months to ease the transition.

To get involved in the Medicare Campaign call MSAC and we will connect you with an MSAC organizer in your area. Take our Put the Meds in Medicare petition into your community. Let your voice be heard.

NO BARGAIN: Medicare Drug Plans Deliver High Prices
Download Families USA's January 2007 report on the high cost of Medicare D
Download Medicare Petition

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