lune 15. 2011
Steep co
payments cause
prescriptions to
go unfilled
Chemotherapy is now available
in a pill, but if you have Medicare,
you may not be able to afford it.
That's what happened to Rita
Moore when she took her prescrip
tion for a medication to treat kidney
cancer to her local drugstore. She
was stunned when the pharmacist
told her a month's supply of the pills
would cost $2,400, more than she
makes.
Medicare prescription plans that
cover seniors like Moore are allowed
to charge steep copayments for the
latest cancer drugs, which can cost
tens of thousands of dollars a year.
purttani» (Dbaertier
About 1 in 6 beneficiaries are not
filling their prescriptions, accord
ing to recent research that suggests
a worrisome trend.
Officials at Medicare say they're
not sure what happens to those
patients — whether they get less
expensive older drugs that some
times work as well, or they just give
up. Traditionally, chemotherapy has
been administered intravenously at
a clinic or doctor's office. Pills are a
relatively new option that may rep
resent the future of cancer care.
Moore, 65, was operated on in
February for an advanced form of
kidney cancer. As she faced a life-
and-death struggle, both her cancer
and kidney specialists agreed a drug
called Sutent offered the best chance.
It's a capsule you can take at home.
But Moore was unprepared for
what happened when she went to
fill her prescription.
Page 19
Meds
deliver the Medicare prescription
benefit say the problem is that drug
makers charge too much for the
medications, some of which were
developed from taxpayer-funded
research. The pharmaceutical indus
try fa u lts in su re rs, say in g
copayments on drugs are higher
than cost-sharing for other medical
services, such as hospital care.
Some experts blame the design of
the Medicare prescription benefit
itself, because it allows insurers to
put expensive drugs on a so-called
"specialty tier" with copayments
equivalent to 25 percent or more of
Rita Moore looks at a photo o th e r son and grandchildren at her
the cost of the medication.
home in California. Diagnosed with advanced cancer she could
Drugs for multiple sclerosis, rheu
not afford the prescription drug she needed to help stop the
matoid arthritis and hepatitis C also
spread o f the disease. (AP photo)
wind up on specialty tiers, along
"I cried," said Moore, who lives can maybe give you some quality of with the new anti-cancer pills. Medi
in the small central California town life is unaffordable? I was devas care supplemental insurance —
of Corcoran. "What can you do tated. I didn't know what to do."
Medigap — doesn't cover those
when the only thing out there that
Private insurance companies that copayments.
BP***
C an cer R esource C en ter -- Provi
dence St. Vincent Medical Center
and the American Red Cross have
joined forces to create the first in-
hospital resource center providing
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F a m ilie s w ith M en ta l Illn e ss - A
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T erry F amily
Mom Harris Restaurant
Grand Opening
F uneral
H ome
M a te r n ity W a te r W o r k o u t -
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information.
egon Trail Chapter Red Cross now
offers credits to helps profession
als maintain licensing or certifica
tion. For a cumulative list, visit
pdxinfo.net.
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