Low-income senior drug coverage cuts costs

WALTHAM, Mass., June 26 (UPI) -- State-subsidized pharmacy assistance programs providing prescription drug coverage for low-income seniors reduce Medicaid and Medicare costs, researchers said.

In addition, low-income seniors enrolled in the programs were able to cut their dose skimping and nursing home admissions in half, Brandeis University researchers said.

In 2002, Illinois and Wisconsin implemented state pharmacy assistance programs with joint federal funding. Senior citizens with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, but not eligible for Medicaid, could join.

Lead author Donald Shepard evaluated these "SeniorCare" programs by matching 7,699 Illinois and 1,798 Wisconsin "buy-in" beneficiaries to similar Ohio controls.

Since Illinois already had a different prescription program in place, its SeniorCare program did not reduce the number of seniors enrolling in Medicaid, but it did reduce the number entering nursing homes and how much enrollees spent on drugs.

In the first year of the Illinois program, nursing home entry was 2.4 percent, compared to 4.4 percent for the Ohio controls. Medicaid spending averaged $631 for Illinois SeniorCare members, versus $1,605 for Ohio seniors, a savings of 61 percent.

In Wisconsin, SeniorCare members joined Medicaid at half the rate of the Ohio seniors, and had half the rate of nursing home entry.