WASHINGTON -- Medi-care drug discount card enrollment fell short of projected numbers as the first anniversary of the Medi-care Modernization Act passed.
According to a statement from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Mark McClellan, approximately 1.7 million Medicare beneficiaries have enrolled in the low-income assistance benefit of the drug card. However, more than 7 million are eligible for the benefit.
The drug discount card offers low-income beneficiaries $1,200 in aid between now and 2006 -- $600 a year -- but to obtain or continue this coverage, they must enroll before Dec. 31.
Once they are enrolled, beneficiaries can roll over any money left this year into 2005. Those who do not enroll before the end of the year will not be able to receive more than $600 in total.
The government had predicted that more than three times the number that are currently enrolled would enroll before the end of the year, according to a recent Associated Press report.
Nearly 2 million cards were distributed to low-income people in October by private companies sponsoring the drug cards, asking them to make one call to activate the card. Only 100,000 have done so, McClellan said, according to the AP report. Retailers have observed low enrollment numbers as well.
"What we've seen is consistent with what is being seen across the country. Of the eligible Medicare beneficiaries, only a fifth of those folks have signed up," said John Beckner, director of pharmacy and health services, Ukrop's Super Markets, Richmond, Va. The permanent prescription drug benefit of the Medicare act officially goes into effect in 2006. The discount cards were designed as a bridge to help eligible beneficiaries until then.
These reports confirmed other research that said drug cards are being underutilized. According to a recent study by ChangeWave Research, Rockville, Md., the drug discount cards have had little impact on the number of prescriptions being written because they are not being used to their full potential. The study reported that 28% of doctors said only 1% to 10% of their patients who qualify for the cards use them.
CMS remains upbeat about the impact of the temporary cards.
"We've worked hard and we've formed new partnerships to help make sure that as many beneficiaries as possible take advantage of Medicare's new, voluntary benefits and services," McClellan said in a statement. "No previous voluntary [Department of Health and Human Services] benefit program for low-income Americans has achieved such substantial enrollment in its first six months."
There are still incentives for retail pharmacies to encourage patients to enroll for the drug discount benefits, Beckner said.
"If you can latch onto those folks initially with the discount card, hopefully when the full benefit goes into effect you'll stand more of a chance of keeping them down the road."
