🚀 go-pugleaf

On Feb 5, 3:25 pm, "Jim Higgins" <gordian...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Needy seniors still have trouble getting drugshttp://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/drugs/2007-02-04-assi...
>
> Eight months after Congress implored pharmaceutical companies to restore
> programs offering free drugs to needy Medicare recipients, advocacy groups
> say that some patients are still having trouble.
> "Before the Medicare program, we had close to 4,000 seniors getting free
> drugs," says Patricia White, executive director of the West Virginia Health
> Right clinic in Charleston, W.Va. "We're probably down to 400 now."
>
> The issue arose after many drug companies halted their assistance programs
> for Medicare-eligible patients once Medicare's drug benefit began last year.
> The drug companies feared running afoul of federal anti-kickback rules if
> they did not. Since then, Medicare officials and other regulators have said
> such programs can be set up in a way to avoid violating any laws.
>
> Currently, some drug companies, including AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline,
> Merck, Pfizer and Wyeth, offer help to Medicare members. Income limits and
> other rules vary, as do which drugs are covered. Dozens of other drugmakers,
> however, bar Medicare-eligible patients from assistance programs.
>
> In May, several members of the Senate Finance Committee met with top
> executives from eight drugmakers, urging them to continue the assistance
> programs.
>
> "A company ought to be ashamed if it's still using (the Medicare drug
> program) as an excuse to abandon people with these extraordinary needs,"
> Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a written statement Friday.
>
> About half of the members of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers
> of America provide assistance to Medicare members, says spokesman Ken
> Johnson, but many are still concerned about the legality of doing so.
>
> Affected Medicare members include Mary Morey and Pat Martinez of Charlotte.
> "It's like I have fallen through a crack," says Morey, 67, who takes 10
> drugs for diabetes and high blood pressure.
>
> Her $15,000 annual income is under the $19,600 limit for assistance through
> Merck's and Wyeth's programs. Still, letters from Merck and Wyeth have told
> her she doesn't qualify. Wyeth has a requirement that applicants, or their
> doctors, write a letter stating they have a hardship. Morey has asked her
> doctor to write a letter.
>
> "Every month, before it's time for Social Security to come again, I run out
> of food money," she says.
>
> Martinez, 76, takes 19 drugs. The insulin she needs for diabetes comes from
> samples her doctor gives her. One of her drugs is made by Glaxo, which
> requires patients spend $600 on drugs before being eligible for assistance.
>
> "Pat doesn't have $600 to spend, so she can't qualify," says Susan Basini,
> executive director of MedAssist, a free pharmacy for uninsured and
> low-income residents of Mecklenburg County, N.C. Martinez works part time at
> MedAssist.
>
> --
> "Your best, last and only line of defense-a cohort of Roman Heavy Infantry"

Stop complaining, that money is helping illegal aliens and other
worthies.

gregory