Wilmington Prescription Medication Community Meeting Recap

WILMINGTON PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION COMMUNITY MEETING RECAP

On December 16, 2003 I had the pleasure to visit with more than 100 Clinton County area residents, at the Senior Services Center in Wilmington. The meeting was a special community event to discuss prescription drug programs including, the new Medicare reforms, Ohio's new prescription drug program and several private sector partnerships that provide reduced cost, and in some cases free, medications to eligible, low-income seniors.

In Wilmington, I was joined by State Representative, Dave Daniels; County Commissioners, Mike Curry and Rick Stanforth; Clinton Memorial Hospital CEO, Tim Crowley and representatives from Eli Lily and Company, the Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio, Together RX and Rx For Ohio (PharMA).

The Community meeting gave seniors a better understanding about the new Medicare prescription drug benefit that my House and Senate colleagues and I voted into law last month. The most important aspect of the new Medicare prescription plan is that it is completely voluntary. You are not forced to participate or change your current coverage. My district offices in Dayton and Wilmington have a number of handouts that can help you make an educated decision to choose whether or not to participate. If you like your current traditional Medicare, you can choose to remain there.

The Medicare prescription plan will start being phased in sometime this spring with a discount card that is currently estimated to save between 10% and 25% on prescription drugs and some medical supplies. Seniors will save more after the full drug benefits become available in 2006. At that time drug coverage will be available for an estimated $35 per month, with a $250 annual deductible. Medicare will pay 75% of prescription drug costs up to $2,250. Catastrophic Coverage guarantees Medicare pays 95% of drug costs over $3,600 per year. Co-payments will be as low as $1, $2 or $5, depending on income.

Here are highlights of some of the other plans that had representatives who joined us in Wilmington.

Together Rx-Is a prescription savings program that offers savings of approximately 20-40% on more than 170 medicines.
To qualify you must meet three requirements:

1. You must be a Medicare enrollee.

2. Your annual income must be less than $28,000 for individuals/$38,000 for couples

3. You must not have prescription drug coverage (public or private)

For more information call 1-800-865-7211 or go to www.together-Rx.com.

Rx For Ohio (PharMA)-Is a collaborative effort between concerned organizations across the state and the research-based pharmaceutical industry. Their Patient Assistance Program provides prescription medicines to qualified patients who do not have prescription drug coverage or who are underinsured in their existing private and/or government plans. To enroll you will need to answer four questions:

1. Patient's age.

2. Estimated gross annual income of patient's household.

3. Name of the prescription medicine(s) the patient needs.

4. Type of government, health insurance and/or prescription drug coverage.

For more information call 1-877-RX-4-OHIO or visit www.RxForOhio.org.

The Ohio Department of Aging, Golden Buckeye Card-Is open to all Ohioans age 60+ and residents over 18 with total and permanent disabilities. Savings are provided by nearly 20,000 businesses, including many pharmacies that offer a special savings price on medications to those who are paying for their entire drug cost out-of-pocket. The discount can also be used if your insurance plan has an initial out-of-pocket deductible before coverage "kicks-in," or a coverage cap after which you must pay cash for prescriptions. In other words, you can use your card whenever your purchase is not covered by insurance. You can find more information by calling the Ohio Department of Aging at 614-466-5500 or at www.GoldenBuckeye.com.

Participants at our community meeting in Wilmington reiterated that affordable prescription medications are one of their major concerns today. The Medicare reform my colleagues and I voted into law and President Bush signed is a good start at making health care more affordable. It is a voluntary program that you can participate in or choose not to. The private sector programs with representatives at the meeting in Wilmington, and briefly mentioned here, are another helpful means toward making medicines available to low income seniors. For further information please contact my Wilmington district office at (937) 383-8931 or Dayton district office at (937) 225-2843. My staff and I stand ready to assist you with your needs.