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Poll
Says Senior Voters Want Medicare Drug Plan Choices, Competition
They have
serious concerns about role of drug-makers in design of benefits
Nov.
11, 2004 - Seniors voting in last week's presidential election favor a
Medicare prescription drug benefit that promotes a choice of plans and
drives down prices through competition, but also have serious concerns
about the drug manufacturers' role in influencing the design of that new
benefit, according to new post-election polling data released yesterday by
the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association. PCMA is the national
association representing America's pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).
"Seniors voting in last week's election clearly want a Medicare drug
benefit that promotes a choice of drug plans and lowers costs through
competition. This approach is the essence of the PBM model that has
worked to drive down costs by an average of 25 percent and expand access
in other parts of the system," said PCMA President Mark Merritt.
"For
policymakers, seniors are raising a red flag about drug manufacturers'
role in designing the drug benefit. Seniors don't want drug
manufacturers determining what drugs Medicare should pay for, especially
if it means higher premiums and co-payments. These data show that
approach is a political loser he added."
Among the key findings:
--
Health care ranked fifth overall among issues with the greatest effect
on seniors votes, and third among Kerry voters. Among all seniors, 11
percent said health care had the greatest effect on their votes, after
Iraq at 22 percent, moral values at 20 percent, terrorism at 17 percent,
and the economy at 13 percent. Among Bush voters, health care ranked
fourth at 5 percent; among Kerry voters health care ranked third at 17
percent, trailing only Iraq and the economy.
-- More
than eight out of ten seniors think Medicare should make drug
manufacturers compete with one another to provide discounts on their
drugs, rather than accept the recommendations of the drug manufacturers
about which drugs should be covered. Eighty-two percent of seniors think
that "Medicare should make the drug manufacturers compete with one
another to provide discounts on their drugs, which could produce lower
Medicare premiums and co-pays," while only 8 percent think "Medicare
should accept the recommendations of the drug manufacturers to pay for
as many of their drugs as possible, even though that could lead to
higher Medicare premiums and co-pays." No differences emerge on this
question between Bush and Kerry voters.
--
Seven out of ten seniors think it is a bad idea to have drug
manufacturers helping to determine which of their drugs Medicare should
and should not cover. Sixty-nine percent think involving the drug
manufacturers in the coverage decision is a bad idea, and only 15
percent think it is a good idea. Sixty-four percent of Bush voters think
it is a bad idea, as do 75 percent of Kerry voters.
--
Seniors think the drug companies are motivated more by increasing their
profits than by providing seniors more choices when they work to have
Medicare cover as many of their own drugs as possible under the
prescription drug benefit. Fifty-four percent think the drug companies
are motivated by profits, and 25 percent think they are motivated by
providing seniors choices. Bush voters attribute drug company behavior
to profits by a margin of 43 to 33 percent, and Kerry voters agree by a
margin of 66 to 16 percent.
-- More
than seven out of ten seniors prefer a drug plan like that enjoyed by
members of Congress, rather than a plan similar to one used by the
Veterans Administration. Seventy-two percent of seniors say "Medicare
should offer seniors a drug plan like members of Congress have, which
offers a choice of drug plans with at least 120 categories of drugs,"
while 11 percent say "Medicare should offer seniors a drug plan like the
one used by the Veterans Administration, which offers one national
preferred drug list with 34 categories of drugs."
The 120
categories is 26 fewer than is currently recommended by U.S.
Pharmacopeia in its draft guidelines. PCMA has long advocated that USP
should build on proven formularies from the commercial marketplace,
which typically rely upon 50 to 100 categories of drugs.
These
new data regarding senior voters' views about the structure of the new
Medicare drug benefit have important implications as the Administration
and the US Pharmacopeia work over the next six weeks to finalize model
Medicare formulary guidelines.
"We are
a crossroads," added Mr. Merritt. "With critical decisions pending about
the structure of Medicare model formulary guidelines, seniors have sent
a clear signal that they don't want the drug manufacturers involved in
determining which drugs Medicare will pay for -- especially if it means
higher premiums and copayments. These data suggest that approach may
well engender a senior backlash."
The
post-election survey of 800 voters 60 years of age and older was
conducted by Ayres, McHenry & Associates November 3-7, 2004 and has a
margin of error of plus or minus 5.24 percent. The complete poll and
summary of findings can be found at
http://www.pcmanet.org
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