Many State Seniors Do Not Fill Prescriptions, Take Prescribed Doses of Treatments To Reduce Costs, Study Finds

About 18% of California seniors last year did not fill a prescription or did not take prescribed doses of a treatment to "make their medications last longer" and reduce costs, a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey released yesterday found. In the survey, researchers from the foundation and Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston interviewed 2,380 California seniors as part of a larger eight-state study. The survey of California seniors found:

• 18% of California seniors did not have prescription drug coverage in 2001, 30% received coverage through Medicare+Choice plans and 30% received coverage through employer-sponsored health plans;
  
  
• 16% of California seniors with prescription drug coverage in 2001 did not take prescribed doses of a treatment as a result of cost;
  
  
• 29% of California seniors without prescription drug coverage in 2001 did not take prescribed doses of a treatment as a result of cost, and more than 33% without prescription drug coverage and with chronic conditions did not take prescribed doses of a treatment as a result of cost;
  
  
• 11% of California seniors with prescription drug coverage spent $100 or more per month on medication in 2001; 39% without prescription drug coverage spent $100 or more per month; 27% with multiple chronic conditions spent $100 or more per month; more than 25% with Medigap prescription drug coverage spent $100 or more per month; and 10% who received prescription drug coverage through Medicare+Choice plans, employer-sponsored health plans or Medi-Cal spent $100 or more per month;
  
  
• 56% of California seniors with annual incomes less than the federal poverty level in 2001 received prescription drug coverage through Medi-Cal; and
  
• 77% of California seniors in 2001 reported "never having heard" about the Pharmacy Assistance Program, the state's prescription drug discount program for Medicare beneficiaries, and only 35% who had heard about the program received discounts through the program.