May 7, 2004

Medicare Rx Cards, Website on Track

Come June 1, Medicare beneficiaries will take advantage of discounts on their prescription drugs, thanks to the landmark new Medicare reform law.

• All systems are go as improvements to the Medicare program come on-line. Last week, the Medicare website started listing drug discounts, while this week seniors could start signing up for specific discount cards.
   
• These initial steps signal that Medicare will provide beneficiaries with better services as the program moves toward modernization. The Medicare reforms will advance consumer choice and competitive pressures that drive quality improvement and better value.

Over the past two weeks, the Medicare program has put in place two key elements that will empower seniors with information. That translates into making seniors more informed consumers under Medicare.

• The Medicare website now lets seniors compare the prices that the more than 70 drug discount programs will offer. The information may be found at pricecomparison. medicare.gov; no www. is used. Discounters will update pricing on the Medicare website every Monday, and HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson expects competition to lead to lower prices over time.
   
• Medicare officials have posted the more conservative of each discount plan's prices for any given medicine.  Secretary Thompson said that's to ensure that seniors may be pleasantly surprised when they get to the drugstore because the actual price may be lower, instead of shocked that their prescriptions actually cost more than the website said.
   
• Seniors began enrolling in prescription discount card programs Monday. The cards go into effect June 1. A new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services survey estimates that seniors will average savings of 10 percent to 17 percent off brand-name drug retail prices.
   
• In addition to these savings – plus ongoing pricing competition and up-to-date cost information – low-income Medicare beneficiaries qualify for a free drug discount card and $600 to help cover their prescription costs. Experts say this combination will save the 8 million seniors without a prescription insurance benefit between 30 percent and 70 percent on their drug costs this year.

Health care leaders welcome these steps toward integrating consumer choice and competition into the Medicare program. This has been their vision for years. Medicare officials appear to be faithfully implementing the reforms that Congress enacted, and that's good news for all seniors. As baby boomers get closer and closer to retirement, there will be no substitute for such market-based solutions if Medicare is to provide seniors quality, affordable health care well into the 21st century.