Study: Medicare drug benefit help certain beneficiaries
Compliance Monitor, November 24, 2004
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A new study says that the new prescription drug benefit will help elderly people with low incomes or very high drug costs-but one in four who sign up for the benefit will have to spend more of their own money for prescription drugs.
The study, issued November 22 by the Kaiser Family Foundation, says one-quarter of the people who enroll in the new program will have higher out-of-pocket costs than if the law had never been enacted.
On average, people who sign up for the benefit will see their out-of-pocket drug spending decline by $465, or 37%, from what it would otherwise have been in 2006, to $792 from $1,257, according to the study.
The study estimated that 29 million of the 41 million Medicare beneficiaries would sign up for drug coverage when it becomes available in 2006.
Of this group, 65%, or 19 million people, are expected to spend less on prescription drugs, and 25%, or 7 million people, will spend more. About 10% of those who enroll, or 3 million people, will see no change in out-of-pocket costs.
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