Many seniors quit taking drugs for chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure when they exceed their drug plan's yearly spending limits, according to a RAND Corporation study.
Even when drug benefits resume at the start of a new health plan year, a significant number of seniors do not resume their prescription medications, according to the findings published in the September/October edition of the journal Health Affairs.
The study, which examined the behavior of seniors enrolled in a national private health plan, provides insight into how seniors may act under provisions of Medicare's new drug benefit plan that will leave about one-third of enrollees without drug coverage for some part of each benefit year.
"Prescription use falls significantly as patients reach their benefit caps," said Geoffrey Joyce, the study's lead author and a senior economist at RAND, a nonprofit 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."
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