Free drug plans end (Medicare benefit dries up drug firms' aid)

[rainbow4321]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/012106dnbusfreedrugs.21947ee8.html

As Medicare's drug coverage takes effect, the pharmaceutical industry has started scaling down its patient assistance programs. Two companies will no longer take applications from people over 65; others will help only seniors who don't enroll in the drug program.

Hardest hit will be seniors with incomes between $14,355 and $20,000 – people who qualified for assistance programs but make too much to get help with a Medicare drug plan.

The drug company assistance programs have been a godsend for people who don't have insurance and can't pay for their medications. They are especially valuable for people with chronic or serious illnesses who take expensive medicines.

Individuals with annual incomes below $14,355 can get a break on premiums, deductibles and co-payments, so they'll probably pay less than they did through the drug company programs, she said. But seniors with incomes above that don't qualify for help. They were poor enough to get accepted in the drug companies' programs but now face deductibles, premiums and co-pays.

[OneBlueSky]

1. that's me . . . this "drug plan" (which is really an insurance and

pharmaceutical industry boondoggle) is going to cost me about $3000 a year more than I'm paying now . . . this plan is not focused on medical consumers (we used to call them patients), but on the insurance companies who are making all the decisions about what to cover and the drug companies who are ceasing their patient assistance programs while the government prohibits bargaining for bulk purchases . . . it is nothing but a scam, and older Americans are its victims . . .

on edit: the worst part of this whole mess is that many of the drugs that companies used to provide for free are the most expensive ones, the ones consumers can least afford . . . and now the Part D insurers are simply refusing to include many of those drugs in their formularies (lists of drugs they'll pay for) -- because of the cost . . . so the drug company will no longer provide it, AND you can't get it from any of the Part D programs . . . which means you have to pay for it yourself -- in my case to the tune of $220/month . . .

[jbnow]

2. Not just the elderly in that range

The disabled too.

We all know we will get old if we live long enough. Disability often takes us by surprise. It may come when we're still raiding kids, when we still have debts that were easy to meet with our good wages...and the debts don't care that we have become disabled. Our homes are not paid off. We may have gone through our assets in the crazily long time it can take to get social security disability.

We would be screwed and not in the fun way.