Friday, August 29, 2008
Editorial: Place health care near top of agenda
One in four older Americans falls through the hole in Medicare prescription coverage.
From the RoundTable blog
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The Kaiser Family Foundation recently analyzed the impact of the so-called doughnut hole for people enrolled in the Medicare prescription drug benefit. The news isn't good. One of every four people hit the $2,510 limit by the end of August and were forced to pay all of the cost for their medicine for the remainder of the year. Just 4 percent ultimately spent enough for catastrophic coverage to kick in.
So how are these older Americans -- the ones politicians fretted were forced to choose between food and medicine when they passed the deeply flawed Medicare Part D program during the 2004 election cycle -- coping?
According to Kaiser, they're still bailing water out of the same boat: Many stop taking their medication or cut their dosage. Which might make short-term economic sense for elderly people who can't pay their pharmacy bill, but ends up costing far more in health care when people with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, forgo medication that keeps the disease in check.
Kaiser's study looked at retail pharmacy claims based on 4.5 million Medicare beneficiaries in 2007, the first year that most people would be enrolled for a full calendar year. They eliminated those poor enough to qualify for low-income assistance that bridges the doughnut hole. The study provides a good look at how people actually are faring. The poor results are about what was to be expected when Part D was enacted.
The legislation worked then to quiet outcries that the government should help older Americans in a financial bind because of high prescription drug prices. Many members of Congress knew Part D was severely flawed, and vowed, at the very least, to correct the doughnut hole.
They haven't. They still should.
Part D is just one of the many flaws in the nation's health care system. A separate Kaiser poll found one in four Americans -- of all ages -- continues to struggle to pay for health care.
Voters, of course, should pay attention to what the presidential candidates plan for health care. (Sen. John McCain favors giving Americans tax credits to purchase health insurance; Sen. Barack Obama prefers universal health care.)
More important, though, is determining where congressional candidates stand and where they place health care as a priority. If candidates aren't making health care a top issue, then Americans need to issue a reminder.
