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Unusual allies join push to sign up minorities for Medicare drug benefits

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 14, 2006

WASHINGTON - One of every six Medicare beneficiaries is black or Hispanic, and many of them lack prescription drug coverage. That has created some unusual allies as the Bush administration tries to boost enrollment in the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Two years ago, the head of the NAACP called for Bush's defeat in his re-election bid. Now, the NAACP is courting celebrities such as Bill Cosby to promote the program and inviting Medicare officials to send their flashy, high-tech bus to black churches so counselors can help beneficiaries wade through all their options.

NAACP officials said they think the drug benefit can be improved. But even as it stands now, they say, it will help poor seniors and the disabled.

"We have to separate the benefit from the politics and the administration, and take it for what it is: It's access to prescription drugs for people who didn't have it before," said Myisha Patterson, NAACP national health coordinator.

Nationally, minority groups view the benefit in a more negative light than whites, polls show.

A recent ABC/Washington Post poll indicated whites are evenly divided about the merits of the program. Among nonwhites, a gap emerges - 36 percent approve and 54 percent disapprove. Despite their negative feelings about the program, minorities seem to be signing up at the same rate as whites.

About 55 percent of the whites, blacks and Hispanics eligible for the program have enrolled voluntarily, said Peter Ashkenaz, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That does not include beneficiaries who were automatically enrolled because of their previous participation in Medicaid.

Adolph Falcon, a vice president at the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, said his organization is also helping the administration with its outreach. It doesn't consider the drug benefit a political issue.

"We're the group for whom this will have the biggest impact," he said. "We've been the group least likely to have medication for the treatment of chronic illnesses."

The Center on an Aging Society, part of Georgetown University, found that among older adults with chronic conditions, 52 percent of whites had prescription drug coverage. That number dropped to 39 percent for blacks and 31 percent for Hispanics.

President Bush's trip to Annandale, Va., on Wednesday was in keeping with the concept of reaching out to minority groups. He visited a largely Asian-American audience at Northern Virginia Community College. Some in the crowd who don't speak English wore headphones that gave them a translation.

"I'm trying to show that our government is reaching out to people from all walks of life in all neighborhoods," Bush said.

WASHINGTON - A once-a-month injection to treat alcoholism won federal approval Thursday, expanding availability of a drug previously sold only in daily pill form.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Vivitrol, spokeswoman Laura Alvey said. Cambridge, Mass.-based Alkermes Inc. will make the injectable form of the drug, also known as naltrexone. Cephalon Inc. of Frazer, Pa., will market and sell it.

The companies hope monthly injections of the drug, to be administered at a doctor's office, will prove an easier regimen for alcoholics to follow than the daily pill. The drug is to be used in conjunction with counseling or group therapy, the companies said.

"Daily adherence to a medication is challenging for most people, and even more challenging for people with alcoholism," said Richard Pops, Alkermes' chief executive officer.

The drug works by blocking neurotransmitters in the brain believed to be associated with alcohol dependence, diminishing the craving for alcohol.

[Last modified April 14, 2006, 01:58:12]