Study confirms US seniors' Rx coverage improvement, but uninsured numbers rise

The share of US seniors without drug coverage has dropped significantly under Medicare's new prescription drug benefit (Part D; Marketletters passim), according to a Health Affairs article based on a combined Kaiser Family Foundation, Commonwealth Fund and Tufts-New England Medical Center survey of more than 16,000 people. However, separate data from the US Census Bureau shows that the overall number of uninsured people in the country has risen from 44.8 million in 2005 to 47 million in 2006.

The Health Affairs report found improvements in the overall number of seniors who were less likely to face high monthly drug costs or to fail to comply with prescribed doses of medications due to cost. However, seniors who enrolled in a Medicare Part D plan obtain fewer advantages than those who relied on other sources of drug coverage, such as employer-sponsored programs or benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the study claims. The latter claim contradicts evidence concerning the lack of availability of new treatments under the VA formulary (Marketletters passim).

The random-sample survey of more than 16,000 seniors across the USA was conducted in the fall of 2006, providing an in-depth look at how the Medicare drug benefit affected seniors. The data provides a comprehensive look at seniors' out-of-pocket spending and related experiences, broken out by type of drug coverage, with a more in-depth look at the experiences of seniors with low incomes.