October 28, 2004 | Read Time: 2 minutes
A coalition of more than 90 national nonprofit organizations is helping low-income people who receive Medicare benefits enroll in programs to reduce the cost of their prescription medications. Central to the campaign is a Web site, BenefitsCheckUpRx, that alerts potential applicants to the combination of programs that will save them the most money.
The Access to Benefits Coalition, led by the National Council on the Aging, in Washington, has created 52 coalitions in 34 states to educate beneficiaries about Medicare’s new prescription-drug savings program, created as part of the Medicare legislation that was passed in December 2003, as well as savings programs run by state governments and pharmaceutical companies.
Because many people who qualify for the savings programs aren’t online, the site is designed to be used by health-care workers, employees at social-service organizations, family members, and others who aid Medicare beneficiaries, says Scott L. Parkin, spokesman for the Access to Benefits Coalition.
After users of the Web site complete a questionnaire that asks about the applicant’s prescription medications, income, and assets, the site returns a list of the savings programs for which the applicant qualifies that will offer the greatest savings. Applications for the recommended savings programs can then be downloaded from the site.
In a speech at a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services event, James Firman, president of the National Council on the Aging, said that a Tulsa, Okla., group used the site to help a 52-year-old woman who has five prescriptions that cost $533 a month find out if she qualified for any prescription-savings programs. Mr. Firman said that if she enrolls in the programs the site identified, including a Medicare-approved discount card and three company-run programs, her monthly prescription costs will drop to $25 a month.
In March, the coalition held focus groups with low-income Medicare beneficiaries and people who work at social-service organizations that serve the elderly to find out what they knew about the new prescription-discount programs.
“A lot of them had heard about the changes to Medicare,” says Mr. Parkin. “They were skeptical. They just didn’t think it was worth it, but the message we’re trying to get out is that it’s worth a lot more than you think.”
To get there: Go to http://www.accesstobenefits.org.
