NewRetirement Retirement News Digest : Prescription Drugs

For Older Athletes, Drug Question Emerges

jberman — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:44:00 GMT

The New York Times, August 18th, 2009

In his apartment outside Philadelphia, Frank Levine pulled a list of prescription medications from his refrigerator, his hands shaking slightly. There was metformin HCl and glipizide for his diabetes; lisinopril for his blood pressure; and Viagra.

“I need it,” he said recently.

Mr. Levine, who is 95 and has had operations on both knees, in June set the American record in the 400-meter dash for men ages 95 to 99, only to see it broken at the U.S.A. Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships a few weeks later. “Nothing counts unless you’re first,” he said.

Mr. Levine belongs to a generation of track and field athletes who are breaking records for speed, distance and endurance at ages once considered too old for competition. In a sport tarnished by doping scandals, the older athletes raise anew the question of what constitutes a natural body for people who are at an age when drugs are a part of life.

“Who’s 75 years old and not taking medications?” asked Gary Snyder, national chairman of U.S.A. Track & Field’s masters committee, which will oversee more than 100 competitions this year for athletes over age 30.

Most drugs like Mr. Levine’s are not banned for competitors, but some common treatments for asthma, menopause and inflammation contain steroids that can disqualify athletes if they do not get written medical exemptions.

“I’m sure there are folks taking something like Manny,” Mr. Snyder said, referring to Manny Ramirez, the baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers who this year was suspended 50 games for violating the sport’s drug policy. “But most are using drugs for medical reasons.”

Ray Feick, 77, said he suspected “two or three” peers of using steroids to enhance their performance, including one shot-putter who suddenly was able to beat him. “My buddies and I talk about it,” he said. “It’s not fair to the age bracket and not fair to their body. And one by one, they drop out.”

U.S.A. Track & Field, the sport’s governing body, has a zero tolerance policy for doping but does not test for drugs at masters events because it is too expensive — about $500 per athlete and an additional $10,000 to take a testing organization to the meet, Mr. Snyder said.

But there is testing at the World Masters Championship, which took place this year in Lahti, Finland, in late July and early August. In 1999, the American sprinter Kathy Jager, 56, was stripped of her medals and barred from competition for two years after she tested positive for anabolic steroids, which she ascribed to her use of a popular menopause treatment called Estratest HS.

“When we set records, the Europeans look at us like, ‘Oh sure, so-and-so is taking stuff,’ ” Mr. Snyder said.

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Survey: 40 Percent of Senior Citizens Not Taking Prescribed Medicines Due to Budget Concerns

jberman — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:09:00 GMT

PR Newswire, July 23rd, 2009

A new survey, released today by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), found that senior citizens are being forced to make drastic cuts to their medical and food budgets due to the recession.

The survey, conducted over a three-month period earlier this year, had more than 1,040 respondents aged 65 and over. Findings include:

42 percent of seniors had either postponed filling their prescription medications or were taking a smaller dosage than prescribed by their physicians
62 percent had cut back on doctor visits or outpatient services
77 percent had reduced their spending on food items

"Millions of seniors have been struggling to make ends meet for many years," said Daniel O'Connell, chairman of The Senior Citizens League. "But this survey makes clear that the recession has made things go from bad to worse for older Americans."

In addition, 32 percent of respondents reported that their drug plan increased its co-pay or co-insurance in 2009; 18 percent said they would have to postpone their retirement; and six percent reported having to take Social Security earlier than expected due to job cuts.

Since 2000, seniors have lost 20 percent of their buying power, according to a TSCL study released in May. That trend will likely continue, as senior costs continue to exceed the COLA.

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Obama Announces Agreement With Drug Companies

jberman — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:56:00 GMT

The Washington Post, June 23rd, 2009

President Obama today announced an offer by drug manufacturers to contribute $80 billion over the next decade to narrow the controversial gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage, a deal the president said moves the nation a step closer to comprehensive health care reform.

"This is a significant breakthrough on the road to health care reform, one that will make the difference in the lives of many older Americans," Obama said as he made the announcement from the White House.

The president was joined at the White House today by Barry Rand, head of the influential senior citizens' advocacy group, AARP, which endorsed the deal.

"This is an early win for reform. It's a major step forward," Rand said.

Obama reiterated his vow to restructure the nation's health care system to expand care and slow the increase in long-term expenses, despite mounting concerns about the initial costs and structure of various plans that have been put forward. "And to those ... here in Washington who've grown accustomed to sky-is-falling prognoses and the certainties that we cannot get this done, I have to repeat and revive an old saying we had from the campaign: Yes, we can," Obama said. "We are going to get this done."

After weeks of secret talks, the pharmaceutical industry trade group voted Friday to dedicate $80 billion to lowering the price of medicines sold to seniors and the government. The unusual offer by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) is part of its effort to convince skeptical lawmakers that it backs major health-care legislation.

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Retirees may well worry about health-care reform

jberman — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:38:00 GMT

Marketwatch, June 16th, 2009

If things weren't bleak before, they certainly are now. Men and women retiring today will need truckloads of money to pay for health-care expenses over the course of their retirement, according to a new study.

And that was the case long before we learned that President Barack Obama plans to cut $313 billion in Medicare and Medicaid spending and reform this nation's health-care system. It's anybody's guess what retirees might need if those reform plans become a reality.

For the time being, at least, the reality is this: Men retiring at age 65 in 2009 will need from $68,000 to $173,000 in savings to cover health-insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses in retirement if they want a 50/50 chance of being able to have enough money, and $134,000 to $378,000 if they prefer a 90% chance, according to a study published last week by the Employee Benefits Research Institute.

Meanwhile, women -- with their greater longevity -- will need even more money. A women retiring at age 65 in 2009 will need from $98,000 to $242,000 in savings to cover insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses in retirement for a 50/50 chance of having enough money, and $164,000 to $450,000 for a 90% chance, said Paul Fronstin, an EBRI researcher, in the report. Read the report on the EBRI site.

But it gets worse. Many Americans may need even more money than the amounts cited above, Fronstin said, because his "analysis does not factor in the savings needed to cover long-term care expenses, nor does it take into account the fact that many individuals retire prior to becoming eligible for Medicare."

Simply opening one's eyes to the issue is key, said Stephen Huth of CCH Inc., a Riverwoods, Ill., publisher and unit of Wolters Kluwer. "Just knowing this is a problem is a good first step," he said. "Few individuals plan for retirement at all, and a small percentage of those even think about health-care costs.

"Even with all the talk about health-care reform, little has been said about the looming crisis for many older individuals," he said.

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Walgreens giving free care to jobless and uninsured

tsaleen — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:48:00 GMT

Yahoo News - March 31, 2009

Drugstore operator Walgreens will offer free clinic visits to the unemployed and uninsured for the rest of the year, providing tests and routine treatment for minor ailments through its walk-in clinics — though patients will still pay for prescriptions.

Walgreens said patients who lose their job and health insurance after March 31 will be able to get free treatment at its in-store Take Care clinics for respiratory problems, allergies, infections and skin conditions, among other ailments. Typically those treatments cost $59 or more for patients with no insurance.

Hal Rosenbluth, chairman of the Take Care Health Systems division, described the plan as something close to an experiment: He said Walgreens isn't sure of patient demand or how much providing the services might cost the company.

It's likely to generate more attention for the clinics, however. Rosenbluth said a typical Take Care patient tells eight other people about his or her experience. So far, about 30 percent of Take Care patients were new customers to Walgreens.

The program is expected to last through the end of 2009. Walgreens runs 341 Take Care clinics in 35 markets around the country, including Chicago, Atlanta, Miami and Cleveland.

Free services will be offered only from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Walgreens said it will not offer free checkups, vaccinations or other injections because it is focusing on providing services patients might otherwise get at an urgent-care center or even an emergency room.

Patients must present proof they are unemployed, including a federal or state unemployment determination letter and an unemployment check stub. They will have to sign a form at the clinic saying they have lost their jobs and health benefits. If they find a new job or get new health insurance, they will no longer be eligible for free care.

Spouses and children are also eligible for free services if they don't have insurance of their own.

Medical lab operator Quest Diagnostics is participating in the program by offering free tests for step throat and urinary tract infections.

Walgreens bought the Take Care clinics in May 2007. Take Care says it has seen about 1.2 million patients since its launch in November 2005 and estimates that up to 30 percent of them were uninsured.

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Fit, Not Frail: Exercise as a Tonic for Aging

jberman — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:50:00 GMT

The New York Times, June 24 2008

Fact: Every hour of every day, 330 Americans turn 60.

Fact: By 2030, one in five Americans will be older than 65.

Fact: The number of people over 100 doubles every decade.

Fact: As they age, people lose muscle mass and strength, flexibility and bone.

Fact: The resulting frailty leads to a loss of mobility and independence.

The last two facts may sound discouraging. But they can be countered by another. Regular participation in aerobics, strength training and balance and flexibility exercises can delay and may even prevent a life-limiting loss of physical abilities into one’s 90s and beyond.

This last fact has given rise to a new group of professionals who specialize in what they call “active aging” and an updated series of physical activity recommendations for older adults from the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine. These recommendations are expected to match new federal activity guidelines due in October from the United States Health and Human Services Department.

But you need not — indeed should not — wait for the government. Even if you have a chronic health problem or physical limitation, there are safe ways to improve fitness and well-being. Any delay can increase the risk of injury and make it harder to recoup your losses.

Miriam E. Nelson, director of the John Hancock Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition at Tufts University in Boston and lead author of the new recommendations, observed last fall in The Journal on Active Aging that “with every increasing decade of age, people become less and less active.”

“But,” Dr. Nelson said, “the evidence shows that with every increasing decade, exercise becomes more important in terms of quality of life, independence and having a full life. So as of now, Americans are not on the right path.”

Jim Concotelli of the Horizon Bay Senior Communities in Tampa, who oversees fitness and wellness program development for communities for the elderly in several states, noted this year in The Journal on Active Aging that many older Americans were unfamiliar with exercise activities and feared that they would cause injury and pain, especially if they have arthritis or other chronic problems. Yet by strengthening muscles, he said, they can improve joints and bones and function with less pain and less risk of injury.

The key is start slowly and build gradually as ability and strength improve. Most important is simply to start — now— perhaps under the guidance of a fitness professional or by creating a program based on the guidelines outlined here.

Older Americans dump drugs when payments stop: study

jberman — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 06:49:00 GMT

Reuters, September 11th, 2007

Some elderly Americans simply stop taking their prescribed drugs when insurance plans cease paying for them, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

And when the benefits reset at the beginning of a new year, many fail to resume taking their drugs, the team at the nonprofit Rand Corporation found.

The findings suggest the same may happen when patients enrolled in Medicare's new "part D" prescription plan hit gaps in coverage popularly known as the doughnut hole, they said.

"Prescription use falls significantly as patients reach their benefit caps," said Geoffrey Joyce, a health economist who led the study at the research organization.

"Most of the drugs we studied help prevent long-term complications of chronic disease so there are likely to be adverse health consequences for seniors who hit their caps."

Joyce and colleagues studied 60,000 retirees enrolled in a private health plan offered by a large national employer in 2003 to 2005. They had a choice of two drug plans that offered annual drug benefit caps of $1,000 or $2,500 and a third that had no spending limit. Participants had a co-pay in each of the plans.

Between 6 percent to 13 percent of the patients enrolled in drug plans with caps reached their spending limits in each of the years studied, with about half going uncovered for more than 90 days.

Read more of this article.

Medicare and Your Retirement: Learn what Medicare will cover during your retirement, and whether you will need Supplemental Health Insurance to cover other potential medical costs.

Millions skip meds, don't take pills correctly

jberman — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 02:06:00 GMT

MSNBC, July 30th, 2007

Consider it the other drug problem: Millions of people don't take their medicine correctly — or quit taking it altogether — and the consequences can be deadly.

On average, half of patients with chronic illnesses like heart disease or asthma skip doses or otherwise mess up their medication, says a report being issued later this week. It calls the problem a national crisis costing billions of dollars.

The government is preparing new steps to try to persuade patients and their doctors to do better.

But with contributors that range from too-hurried doctor visits to confusing pill bottles, there's no easy solution.

"We go into this with some humility," says Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which is planning what she calls an "in your face" campaign to improve medication adherence. "It's really pretty appalling how badly we do."

This goes far beyond the issue of affording prescriptions. Often people buy their drugs but misunderstand what they're supposed to take, or how. Or forget doses. Or start feeling better and toss the rest of the bottle. Or skip doses for fear of side effects.

Read more of this article.

Senior Citizens Certain to See Lower Priced Drugs with Democrat Wins

jberman — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 04:51:00 GMT

Senior Journal.com, November 8th, 2006

The results from yesterday's election showing Democrats gaining control of the House of Representatives and close to control of the Senate signals major changes ahead that directly impact senior citizens. First, the price of prescription drugs is going to go down. And this was the final nail in the coffin that contains the private accounts proposed by President Bush for Social Security. "Tonight we have made history; now let us make progress," said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who is now destined to be the first female Speaker of the House and most powerful woman in the history of the U.S. government.

"After a lifetime of hard work, America's seniors have earned their right to a dignified retirement. Their monthly payroll contributions to Medicare and Social Security have served as a down payment toward a secure retirement. Unfortunately, Republican policies have undermined this security," charged Pelosi.

"First," she says, "the Republican majority enacted a prescription drug program that does more to increase profits for big pharmaceutical companies than it does to lower prescription drug costs for seniors. Then, President Bush and House Republicans pursued a risky Social Security privatization plan that would have slashed guaranteed benefits and drained trillions of dollars from Social Security."

Pelosi says Democrats fought against Social Security privatization, and are now working to fix the flaws in the Republican prescription drug program.

Seniors must act fast or pay the price

jberman — Thu, 11 May 2006 03:48:00 GMT

6.5 million seniors have 6 days to make sense of the Medicare maze and pick a plan

Chicago Tribune, May 9th, 2006

Just days before the deadline, Larry Mayer still can't decide what to do: Should he sign up for Medicare's new drug program and pay almost $800 more a year for his medications?

Or should he keep buying drugs from Canada and Sam's Club and risk having to pay a penalty if his situation changes and he needs the program later?

More than 6 million Americans face similarly vexing decisions as the program's May 15 enrollment deadline approaches.

This is the first time Medicare is paying for prescription drugs, an essential and expensive treatment for most seniors, and the largest expansion of the government health plan in more than 40 years. But persuading seniors to sign up has been an uphill battle.

Like Mayer, large numbers of people are baffled by the complexity of Medicare's drug benefit, which is being administered by dozens of private companies. And like him, they're weighing the costs of joining against the benefits, and worrying about a financial penalty for people who don't sign up in time. The fine is 1 percent of an average drug plan's monthly premium.

Read more...

Seniors Can Save Billions If Drug-Makers Don't Stop Generics

jberman — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 06:53:00 GMT

Pharmacy Benefit Managers see Medicare saving $23 billion in 5 years

SeniorJournal.com, April 18th, 2006

Senior citizens and the Medicare Part D program could potentially save more than $23 billion dollars over the next five years as at least 14 major brand-name drugs commonly used by seniors are slated to become available in generic form. Standing in the way, however, is the powerful lobby for the pharmaceutical companies that make name-brand drugs.

This analysis comes from an association representing pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which administer prescription drug plans for more than 200 million Americans with health coverage provided through small businesses, Fortune 500 employers, health insurers, labor unions, and Medicare Part D.

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) warned that these savings are at risk in the coming years as special interest groups continue efforts aimed at undermining generic alternatives, both in public programs and the commercial marketplace.

Medicare Drug Plan Helping Some Seniors

jberman — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 04:36:00 GMT

Chron.com, April 9th, 2006

It wasn't easy to sign up, but now that she's enrolled in the new Medicare drug benefit, Ruth Dike says it's made a big difference in her finances.

The cost of her medicine ranges from about $10 to $15 a month, she says, versus at least $100 a month before she joined.

"It's just a relief that I can buy the medications I need without having to worry how I'm going to pay for them," says Dike, 74, of Casper, Wyo.

Congressional supporters of the program worry that the problems that marked its beginnings have drowned out success stories such as Dike's.