Senior News From: Frank Kaiser

[Crewleader]

Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries Enrolled in More-Costly Prescription Drug Plans, Study Finds



Medicare randomly enrolls low-income beneficiaries in prescription drug plans that cost the federal government as much as $1,400 more than the least-costly plans, according to a Consumers Union study released Tuesday, CongressDaily reports. For example, an analysis of coverage in the Boston area found that subsidy costs for the plans ranged from $2,319 to $3,725 annually.

Consumers Union senior policy analyst Bill Vaughan said $2 billion could be saved over five years by changing how CMS signs up beneficiaries in drug plans using what the group calls "intelligent auto enrollment." Under Consumers Union's solution, low-income beneficiaries would be enrolled in the three or four drug plans that offer the lowest prices on the most commonly prescribed drugs. "This will be an issue you'll see later in the year as a way to pay for things," Vaughan said, referring to efforts to raise money to delay scheduled Medicare payment cuts to physicians and reauthorize SCHIP.

Also on Tuesday, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee held a hearing to find ways to increase enrollment in a Medicare savings plan that helps low-income beneficiaries pay premiums and in a subsidy program that helps low-income beneficiaries with drug costs. Several groups, including AARP and the Medicare Rights Center, proposed the elimination of an asset test that requires seniors to have below a certain amount of savings to qualify for assistance, according to CongressDaily (Edney, CongressDaily. 5/16).

The Consumers Union study is available online at http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_health_care/004480.html.