Nearly one in four seniors are skipping doses of medicine or not filling prescriptions because they cannot afford their drugs, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The survey results come as local senior health groups scramble to help seniors get the drugs they need. Many elderly were left without coverage after several HMOs ended or scaled back their Medicare supplement programs at the start of the year. Meanwhile, the Senate Wednesday killed legislation to provide drug benefits with Medicare.
"In the last six or eight months, there were people who just said, 'I don't know what I'm going to do,'" said Arlene Phillips, who is manager of senior services at the John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System. "If you do not have reserves to draw on, you cannot afford prescriptions for $200 per month."
That kind of spending is not unusual. Phillips says some seniors are spending $500 per month for drugs, and close to one in four of all seniors spend at least $100 per month, according to the study, which Kaiser conducted last year in conjunction with the Commonwealth Fund. Researchers canvassed eight states and found a wide discrepancy between them in drug coverage for seniors.
In California, 18 percent of seniors go without prescription drug coverage, which was the lowest rate, while Texas', at 31 percent, was the worst. California's seniors were also the most likely to obtain drug coverage through a Medicare HMO, which provides supplemental coverage.
In addition, the state's Medicaid system covered the largest share of poor seniors, 56 percent, but those seniors were also more likely to leave prescriptions unfilled than those in any state but Texas. One question the study did not answer is whether seniors are skipping doses of so-called discretionary drugs, like Viagra, or of drugs that are more critical to survival. Still, researchers say the skipping presents a real danger.
"Doctors are prescribing medications assuming (seniors) will follow their prescriptions," said Patricia Neuman, co-author of the study and director of Kaiser Family Foundation's Medicare Policy Project. "They may not tell their doctors, because they may be too ashamed, and that raises questions about compliance and quality of care." Stanley Ginn, 69, has no shame about throttling back his dosage to save money.
Ginn, a Richmond building designer, takes seven different medications each day, for ailments ranging from high cholesterol and blood pressure to arthritis to an enlarged prostate.
Ginn recently told his doctor he planned to cut his seven weekly tablets of the prostate drug Proscar to three, citing the high cost of the prescription. "I told him, at $2.50 per pill, and 30 pills per month, that's $75 per month, and I seemed to be getting along OK" at the lower dose, he said. After running a test, the doctor relented, but only on the condition that Ginn stick to a strict schedule of future prostate exams.
Ginn said that he has insurance to supplement Medicare, but most of his drugs are brand names, rather than generics, and so are not covered.
FOR QUESTIONS
* John Muir/Mount Diablo senior services program: 925-947-3300
* Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program in local counties: 800-434-0222
Caption: Photo-Close to one in four seniors spend at least $100 per month on prescriptions; Yvonne Potts pays $390 in Pleasanton. Poor seniors were more likely to leave prescriptions unfilled. (Dan Honda/Times)
Graphic-Skimping on expensive medicine (Knight Ridder Tribune) Seniors skipping medicines when costs are prohibitive Crisis of prescription costs is exposed in Kaiser Family Foundation study
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