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Most States Help Low-Income Elderly with Drug Costs
Website helps locate assistance for those not in
Medicaid
March 21, 2005 – Increasingly, the burden of
assisting low-income senior citizens is falling on the state
governments. Tom Koziol, a regular contributor to SeniorJournal.com, has
found a Website that can assist the elderly who do not qualify for
Medicaid in finding help with prescription drugs in their state.
“As of March 2005 at least 39 states have
established or authorized some type of program to provide pharmaceutical
coverage or assistance, primarily to low-income elderly or persons with
disabilities who do not qualify for Medicaid. Most programs utilize
state funds to subsidize a portion of the costs, usually for a defined
population that meets enrollment criteria, but an increasing number use
discounts or bulk purchasing approaches,” states Website for the. State
Pharmaceutical Assistance Programs.
This is the site url -
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/drugaid.htm
“If you visit this site, I believe you will be
pleasantly surprised by the amount of information and the presentation
format,” says Koziol.
The states offering this assistance is growing:
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36 states have enacted
laws to create programs; three others are by executive branch action
only.
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31 states' laws
provide for a direct subsidy using state funds; of these 24 are in
operation.
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21 states have created
or authorized programs that offer a discount only (no subsidy) for
eligible or enrolled seniors; of these 15 are in operation. A
majority of these states also have a separate subsidy program.
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32 states have
programs now in operation; in addition, Arkansas, Louisiana, New
Mexico, Tennessee and Texas have enacted laws that are not yet in
operation. Montana and South Dakota had enacted laws for Rx
programs, but halted implementation indefinitely as of late 2004.
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