Seniors may call or go to a Web site and check prices for prescriptions to treat various conditions. The new program gets mixed reviews.
By KRIS HUNDLEY
Published September 16, 2004
Medicare officials, struggling to build interest in the government's drug discount card program, dangled a new incentive on Wednesday.
By calling Medicare or going to its Web site, seniors might be able to save even more by finding a less expensive drug to treat their ailments.
The site's "Lower Cost Rx Comparison Tool" compares drugs by disease category. Enter Zocor for lowering cholesterol, for example, and the Web site provides a list of similar drugs that cost less based on national average prices.
Medicare also has comparative information on drugs used for lowering blood pressure, heart failure, allergies and decongestants, acid reducing and arthritis.
The Web site is www.medicare.gov the toll-free phone number is 1-800-633-4227.
Officials said the information was prepared by doctors and pharmacists and will be updated weekly. They also urged seniors to discuss information about lower-priced drug options with their physicians.
"Only physicians can decide what drug is best for their patient," said Dr. Mark McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. "We want to help patients and their physicians find the least costly way to get the health benefits that prescription drugs can provide - including an informed discussion about whether a less expensive, similar drug is right for them."
Cutting drug prices for seniors has been a hot topic in an election year. Medicare had hoped to do that with its drug discount cards, which are being sponsored by nearly 40 private companies.
Although 15.4-million seniors are eligible for the cards, which were introduced in June, only about 4.4-million have signed up so far. Nearly 3-million of those are people who automatically received cards because they belong to a Medicare HMO.
The drug cards have been criticized as being too confusing, offering too many options with no assurance prices will remain the same once a person enrolls. Medicare's latest offering also got mixed reviews.
Jan Rauer, a volunteer trainer with the state's SHINE program, which advises seniors on Medicare benefits, thinks the drug cost comparisons will be well received.
"Based on that information, when they see their doctor the next time, they can ask why they shouldn't be taking the lower priced drug instead," said Rauer, who lives in Lutz. "I think it will be very beneficial."
But St. Petersburg family practice doctor Gigi LeFebvre, whose practice is about 80 percent Medicare patients, worries that the new option will just confuse patients who are already wary of the dozens of card choices. She suggests all the confusion could be eliminated if the government set prices for drugmakers just as it does for other health care providers.
"Medicare tells doctors, hospitals and everyone else what it will pay," she said. "Why doesn't it have the same clout with the pharmaceutical industry?"
