Florida's Lifesaver Rx program still hasn't received the go-ahead from Washington, and legislators are angry.
By JONI JAMES
Published January 1, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - For months, Florida lawmakers boasted that the new year would bring help for 100,000 low-income seniors struggling to afford prescription drugs.
The new year is here, but the highly touted Lifesaver Rx plan is not.
The drug plan, a rare bipartisan success during the contentious 2003 legislative session, was supposed to allow certain seniors to buy drugs at heavily discounted prices.
But in an ironic and unexpected twist, the plan suffered a setback after Congress approved a new Medicare drug benefit that takes effect in 2006.
The Florida plan must be approved by the Bush administration in Washington. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told Florida that it will need more time to review the plan in light of the new Medicare law, state officials said.
Gov. Jeb Bush is confident that the program will eventually be approved by his brother's administration in Washington.
"We are continuing to work ... to get relief to our seniors as quickly as possible," Bush spokeswoman Alia Faraj said.
Legislators, however, have been less forgiving.
Rep. Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale, who is expected to be the next House Democratic leader, blamed the governor: "We're in a state where the president's brother is the governor. What good is it to live in a state that's Republican dominated if they can't even get that done?"
Rep. Dan Gelber, the Miami Beach Democrat who introduced the legislation, worries that pharmaceutical companies' efforts in Washington could stall the Florida plan indefinitely.
The drug industry has generally favored the congressional plan, which will provide as much as $600 monthly for Medicare recipients to buy drugs. Florida's plan, by contrast, requires companies to discount drug prices for individuals who often pay full price on whatever drugs they can afford.
"We called it Lifesaver because we wanted to find something to help people who needed it the most right now. Every day it's delayed is money out of someone's pocket, or else they just don't get the medicine they need," Gelber said.
Those expected to benefit from the Lifesaver proposal: single seniors whose annual income is no more than $17,960 and couples whose income is no more than $24,240.
The proposal would provide discounts of 37 percent to 50 percent on drug prices. That's in addition to the state's Silver Saver plan, which provides monthly subsidies of up to $160 for 51,106 seniors whose income is no more than $10,776 as a single or $14,544 as a couple.
The federal delay comes months after Florida Republican leaders testified in the Legislature that they had been assured by federal officials that there would be no problem getting the plan approved.
The setback is all the more embarrassing because lawmakers have relentlessly touted the plan.
Since the measure passed in June, House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, has bragged about the program's promise. Byrd, who couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday, authorized the printing of thousands of postcards to be sent to House members' constituents at taxpayer expense to tout the program.
"This is just a huge disappointment," said Rep. Carole Green, R-Fort Myers, chairwoman of the House health budget committee. "We'd had so many assurances from the federal government this would just fly through."
At least one social service advocate says the delay has caused even more confusion for seniors.
"We were inundated with calls" from people who wanted help with their drug bills, said Mary Brennan, who coordinates insurance issues for the Area Agency on Aging in Pinellas and Pasco counties. "Now we just tell them that it is pending."
For Doris Bell of St. Petersburg, the Silver Saver plan already has helped. Bell, 74, lives on $698 a month from her Social Security check. Her apartment takes $425 of that. How does she get by?
"Very conservatively," she said.
She enjoys good health, taking only a medication for high blood pressure. It used to cost $7 a month on her Medicare HMO plan. Then, 18 months ago, she enrolled in Silver Saver, which dropped the cost to $2.
"That $5 savings means a lot to me," Bell said.
Her staple meal is meatloaf, made with hamburger and free bread from her church. With Silver Saver, "I can buy a little chicken now and then."
- Times staff writers Stephen Nohlgren and Steve Bousquet contributed to this report.
