Sen. Joseph Lieberman Criticizes Medicare Prescription Drug Discount Card Program

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) on Thursday asked HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson to remove from the Medicare Web site pricing information for the new prescription drug discount cards until "accurate information" becomes available, the Hartford Courant reports. He also urged the government to allow Medicare beneficiaries a 30-day grace period to switch cards after signing up for the program. In a letter to Thompson, Lieberman wrote, "It is unrealistic to expect seniors to make an informed choice about discount cards when the information is not available for every plan." Prior to the release of Lieberman's letter, Thompson rejected his proposals, saying that the prices posted on the Web site are accurate and that new information will be posted every Monday to update the Web site. Thompson also said that a grace period is unnecessary because beneficiaries can switch cards at the end of this year (MacDonald, Hartford Courant, 5/7).

Established as part of the new Medicare law, the discount cards are available to beneficiaries who do not have prescription drug coverage through Medicaid. Companies that offer the cards can charge an annual enrollment fee of as much as $30 and likely will offer savings on at least one medication in each of 209 classes of treatments commonly used by Medicare beneficiaries. HHS has approved a number of private companies to offer different discount cards. Medicare beneficiaries with annual incomes of less than $12,569 for individuals or $16,862 for couples will qualify for a $600 annual subsidy for their prescription drug costs and will not have to pay enrollment fees. Beneficiaries can use the Medicare Web site or call 1-800-MEDICARE to make card-to-card comparisons of prescription drug discounts. Some drug card sponsors have criticized the Web site, saying that many prices posted on it are inaccurate, and prices offered through a number of drug cards have not yet been included. According to Thompson, the discount cards on the Web site offer average savings of about 10% to 17% for brand-name medications and 30% to 60% for generic treatments. Enrollment in the program began this month, and the cards take effect in June (California Healthline, 5/6).

Advocates for the elderly continue to say that the new program is confusing for many beneficiaries, noting that the "partisan political tussle" surrounding the program is "drown[ing]" out the cards' true benefit to those with low annual incomes, the AP/Washington Times reports. James Firman, president of the National Council on Aging, said, "Clearly, things are confusing, and the politics is making it more confusing. The truth is somewhere" between critics' and supporters' positions. Firman said the Bush administration and Republicans are promising "more than the cards probably will deliver," saying that the discounts will help all beneficiaries and that competition among drug card sponsors resulting from the online price comparisons will lower drug prices for all U.S. residents, the AP/Times reports. Meanwhile, Democrats "only grudgingly acknowledge the value of the card for low-income people" and continue to attack the value of the program for other beneficiaries, according to the AP/Times. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) said, "Even with this proposal that will allow lower-income seniors a $600 benefit, they are probably going to spend so much time trying to manipulate or make it through the process that they are not going to be able to benefit from this at all." But Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Democrats are "try[ing] to score political points rather than help low-income beneficiaries get some much-needed help" (AP/Washington Times, 5/8). House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) added, "Rather than fully inform their constituents of the actual benefits of this discount card, Democrats want to scare and confuse seniors" (Hartford Courant, 5/7). Robert Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, said, "It's maddening to hear the political characterizations of the programs on both sides. There is no mistaking that some low-income people will definitely benefit. But it's absurd for some Republican leaders to pretend that the discount card program is anything more than a drop in the bucket."

Medicare beneficiaries seeking to learn more about the drug discount card program last week encountered a "healthy dose of confusion" and found themselves "more puzzled than pleased," according to the Christian Science Monitor. Beneficiaries trying to get help through the Medicare telephone hotline regularly were faced with "all circuits are currently busy" messages (Marks, Christian Science Monitor, 5/7). Beneficiaries who visited the Web site to find more information said it "took too long" to respond to some queries, and they also noted that it was "confusing to compare the prices of mail-order and corner pharmacies, and to figure in the cost of the card," according to the Los Angeles Times. They also said that the prices they were seeing "didn't seem to be any lower than" those they found by "shopping carefully by mail order and through local pharmacies," the Los Angeles Times reports (Healy, Los Angeles Times, 5/10).

• Long Island Newsday: Newsday on Monday examined the debate over whether Medicare should be allowed to negotiate directly with drug companies -- as the Department of Veterans Affairs does -- to obtain lower discounts on prescription medications (Barfield Berry, Long Island Newsday, 5/10).
  
  
• Gannett/Detroit News: The Gannett/News on Sunday examined reports from eight states of scams related to the drug discount card program. According to Gannett/News, cases of fraud "don't seem to have materialized in great number," and "initial media reports of widespread card counterfeiting have proved inaccurate" (Wheeler, Gannett News/Detroit News, 5/9).