SICKEST PATIENTS STILL STRUGGLING UNDER PART D

A recent study of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit has found that although both healthy and sick beneficiaries are now less likely to cut back on basic necessities in order to pay for medicine, the sickest patients are still skipping medications for financial reasons.

The nationwide study looked at the effect of Part D on financial hardship since the benefit took effect in January 2006. Researchers found that although the rate of skipping prescriptions due to cost declined from 14.1% in 2005 to 11.5% in 2006, the sickest patients experienced no improvement in pill skipping after Part D began.