Maryland Assembly Set to Approve Prescription Drug Plan for Seniors, Disabled; Sun Editorial Warns Against Action

The Maryland General Assembly is expected on April 9 to approve a $21 million prescription drug program for an estimated 30,000 seniors and disabled residents, after House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement on April 6, the Baltimore Sun reports. The program, to be administered by CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, would be open to all elderly or disabled residents with incomes up to 300% of the federal poverty level, or $52,950 for a family of four. Beneficiaries would pay a $10 monthly premium and a $10 to $35 co-payment on prescriptions, with an annual limit of $1,000 in prescriptions. The program "would be funded mostly by reducing the discount on hospital rates the state gives to insurance carriers in exchange for covering otherwise uninsurable people," the Sun reports. The new benefit would only last for two years, however, as legislators -- hoping that Congress will enact a federal Medicare prescription drug benefit -- intend for the program to serve as a "temporary solution." In addition to its prescription drug provisions, the measure would require that the state seek a federal waiver "to allow about 100,000 elderly Marylanders, regardless of income, to receive one-third off the price of their pharmacy prescriptions"; the cost of this price reduction would be borne by pharmacies and drug manufacturers. Also, the bill would allocate $2.5 million in state funds to expand MEDBANK, a not-for-profit service that connects low-income residents to free medicine programs offered by drug makers. The Sun reports that the expansion could increase the number of people served by MEDBANK from its current 1,800 to 20,000. The "entire package" would cost the state $6.5 million, with most of the remaining funds coming from the private sector (Barker, Baltimore Sun, 4/7).

An 'Unaffordable Entitlement'?
While Maryland legislators may be working with the best of intentions in crafting a prescription drug benefit, they do so at risk of "hurting Maryland druggists and committing the state to a program of immense proportions," a Baltimore Sun editorial warns. Although the measure calls for a two-year program, the editorial states that rising drug costs have decreased the chances of Congress passing a Medicare drug benefit; should no federal benefit arise, "once [state] money is committed to such a program, it will be virtually impossible to pull back," and indeed seniors will likely "demand" even more money from the state in future years. Furthermore, the editorial states that the measure could "deeply hurt" the state's 250 independent pharmacists by instituting price controls on seniors' prescriptions. The editorial concludes that state lawmakers "need to craft a bill that assists the poorest of Maryland's seniors without creating an unaffordable entitlement" (Baltimore Sun, 4/7).