Vol. 73/No. 26      July 13, 2009

According to a report in the New York Times in June, national surveys consistently find that a third of respondents are not buying their prescriptions because of the cost, up from a fourth three years ago.

In Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where the official unemployment rate has doubled to 14 percent in a year, Dr. John Avent, a physician treating many low-income workers, told the Times that at least 80 percent of his patients do not take the medicines he prescribes.

“They’ll say, ‘Well, Doc, I just couldn’t afford it; I’ve been out of it for a month now,’” said Avent. “By that time, of course, their blood pressure is highly elevated.”

Dr. Daniel Minior, who directs the emergency department at Nash General Hospital in Rocky Mount, said that among those unable to afford needed medications are younger and working-age people.

Jimmie Bryant, 56, told the Times that while working he could only afford to alternate between two of his prescriptions, week to week. Recently laid off, he tried to get refills from his physician but was told he first had to schedule an office visit for $120.

Those enrolled in Medicare have been among the hardest hit. Medicare does not include drugs as part of covered medical benefits. Instead it encourages patients to enroll in a Medicare-approved private insurance drug plan.

Much of this private coverage is based on complicated contracts that are difficult to comprehend and often include hidden higher costs. In many cases specialty drugs, used heavily by the elderly, are placed in a higher price tier where individuals must pay up to 33 percent of the cost.

When the Medicare drug program was initiated in January 2006 it was a big profit boon to the pharmaceutical companies. In the first six months of this program, pharmaceutical industry profits increased by more than $8 billion, according to a congressional report issued by Rep. Henry Waxman in September 2006.  
 
 
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