title: How do seniors use their prescription drug discount cards?
abstract: This study examines how seniors enrolled in a major national prescription drug discount program used their cards in the year before the Medicare discount card program's implementation, to establish baseline information. Seniors who actively enrolled relied heavily on the card for their purchases. They saved 20 percent overall but still spent more than dollar 1,300 annually on prescriptions, on average. Fewer than half of those who were automatically enrolled as a free Medigap benefit used the card. This suggests that some had other options or that more effort is needed to assure that seniors understand the value of drug savings programs and how to use them.
authors.affiliation: Schneider Institutefor Health Policy, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA. cthomas@brandeis.edu
authors.forename: Cindy Parks
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Stanley S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Wallack
authors.forename: Timothy C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016527:Drug Costs; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007356:Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare; D011306:Prescription Fees; D014481:United States