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Statement of James Firman
President and CEO, The National Council on The Aging
Chair, Access to Benefits Coalition

 Maximizing Enrollment in Prescription Drug Savings Programs
June 8, 2004  

Enactment of the new Medicare law is the single-most important opportunity to help lower income Medicare beneficiaries to have emerged in the past 40 years. Of immediate significance is the fact that Medicare-approved discount cards include a $600 transitional assistance credit this year and next for those with annual incomes below 135 percent of poverty.

To achieve the law's full potential, we must maximize enrollment in the credit program, as well as savings from other public and private programs. In recent years, various agencies, organizations and foundations have tried to identify and enroll low-income beneficiaries who are eligible for but not receiving needed benefits from government and private programs. Unfortunately, success has been inconsistent and uneven.

While current government efforts will reach many low-income beneficiaries, there also needs to be complementary, coordinated initiatives that go deeper into the community to educate consumers and their families, and facilitate enrollment in the benefits available.

In response to these challenges and opportunities, The National Council on the Aging (NCOA) and 75 national non-profit organizations have formed the Access to Benefits Coalition (ABC). ABC members share an interest in helping connect lower income Medicare beneficiaries to public and private prescription savings programs. The Coalition represents a diverse group of senior, disability, faith-based, minority, provider, consumer, and advocacy organizations, and is growing on a weekly basis. The organizations have exceptional reach and trust among Medicare beneficiaries, and are uniquely positioned to counsel and help navigate them through the process. We are now working to organize and support state and local ABC coalitions across the country.

The Coalition's short-term objective is to ensure that by the end of 2005, at least 5.5 million low-income beneficiaries get the $600 annual credit as well as other public and private benefits that can provide prescription savings.

The Coalition applauds the Department of Health and Human Services for its recent commitment to provide $4.6 million to support community-based education and enrollment efforts targeted to lower income beneficiaries. We are also pleased that the Corporation for National Service has recently approved 15 VISTA volunteer slots to assist our efforts. We expect to be able to announce next week more precisely how these and other resources will be made available in communities across the nation.

We are pleased to announce today that the Coalition has recently made available, on its AccessToBenefits.org Web site, a variety of new tools designed to help ABC members and their affiliates find, educate, and enroll lower income beneficiaries in prescription savings programs. Thousands of Coalition members' staff and volunteers will be trained and supported to serve as individual counselors and navigators, and help lower income beneficiaries and their families use these new tools, which include:

First, 51 State Prescription Savings Guides with detailed information on a wide range of federal, state and private prescription savings programs. Second, an Enrollment Center with hundreds of prescription drug savings program enrollment forms, many of which are fillable online. Third, a section on Promising Practices in Outreach and Enrollment that provides links to summaries of important case studies across various public benefits.

The site also links to NCOA's award-winning BenefitsCheckUp™ decision tool. We are developing an enhanced version of the BenefitsCheckUpRx™ Web site to facilitate customized decision-making and enrollment in the full range of prescription savings programs.   The new tool, which should be available in late July, will help beneficiaries determine the individualized combination of programs that will save the most money - not only new Medicare benefits, but state pharmaceutical assistance programs, manufacturer's discount card programs that are not Medicare endorsed, and over 130 private drug company patient assistance programs.

It is important to remember that most low-income beneficiaries who enroll in the credit program can save a lot more than $1,200 over the next 18 months. This is because of the commendable actions by states and several pharmaceutical manufacturers to offer savings programs for low-income beneficiaries that "wrap around" the Medicare-approved cards. Those who take multiple medications and who have incomes below 135% of poverty could save from 40% to 90% on their medications. The Access to Benefits Coalition is calling on all the Medicare-approved discount card sponsors to pledge to make their best effort to include all the manufacturers' prescription savings programs in their cards when the $600 credit is exhausted. Our goal is to get at least one-half of the Medicare-approved discount card sponsors to sign this pledge within the next 30 days. Five card sponsors have agreed to sign the pledge so far.

Although the activities of the Coalition are not involved with whether the new Medicare law was good or bad, or how it should be changed, we believe there are a number of ways in which enrollment in the $600 credit program can be improved. We were pleased that CMS agreed to the development and use of a standard enrollment form and to automatic enrollment in the $600 credit for state pharmaceutical assistance program enrollees. The Coalition also supports automatically enrolling current Medicare Savings Program recipients in the $600 credit program and will be talking soon with CMS officials to attempt to achieve this goal.

In conclusion, the Access to Benefits Coalition is firmly committed to working with a broad range of partners to take full advantage of this opportunity to provide much-needed assistance to this vulnerable, hard-to-reach population. By working closely together on these initiatives, we can significantly improve the quality of the lives of millions of Medicare beneficiaries who need help in paying for their medications.

The Access to Benefits Coalition is a public-private partnership dedicated to ensuring that lower income beneficiaries know about and can make optimal use of new Medicare prescription drug benefits and all other available resources for saving money on prescription drugs. Coalition members share a commitment to helping Medicare beneficiaries find the public and private prescription savings programs they need to maintain their health and improve the quality of their lives. In addition to the resources of its more than 70 members, ABC activities are supported by funds being raised from pubic and private sources, including government, private industry and foundations. Chaired by The National Council on the Aging, ABC is led by a five-member Steering Committee, comprised of leaders from NCOA; AARP; Alzheimer's Association; National Alliance for Hispanic Health; and Easter Seals. Further info rmation is available on www.accesstobenefits.org.