Drug plan aims to help seniors

INDIANAPOLIS -- Eligible low-income seniors will receive bigger discounts on individual prescription drug purchases under changes made to the state's HoosierRx program, Gov. Joe Kernan announced Thursday.\nThe changes are designed to dovetail Indiana's program with the new Medicare-approved discount cards, allowing qualified seniors to receive benefits from both programs.\nFor the majority of qualified, low-income seniors, the combination of the programs will mean additional savings, both on individual prescriptions and total discounts through 2005. For a few of the lowest-income participants, total benefits could be slightly less.\n"Mounting prescription drug costs are a reality that too many of our seniors face and we remain committed to providing some help," Kernan said.\nKernan, a Democrat who is seeking a full term this year, announced the changes at a senior center in Lafayette. He faces Republican Mitch Daniels in November.\nStarting June 1, seniors qualified for HoosierRx will receive 75-percent discounts on the cost of medications, up from 50 percent. Over the next 19 months, through December 2005, they could receive a maximum of $1,200 in state discounts.\nThose who qualify for the new Medicare-approved discount cards also could get up to $600 in federal government aid to buy prescription medicines through the end of this calendar year, and another $600 in 2005.\nThe maximum income for participants of both programs is 135 percent of the federal poverty level. That is $1,068 per month for someone aged 65 or older who is single, and $1,426 a month in combined income for married applicants.\nBefore the changes, annual benefits in HoosierRx were capped at either $500, $750 or $1,000, depending on income. Starting June 1, all qualified participants could receive up to $1,200 in state discounts over the next 19 months.\nThe switch from annual benefits to a 19-month time frame is designed to mesh the state's changes to new federal Medicare benefits, which also take effect June 1.\nThe goal was to let low-income seniors receive benefits from both programs, which not all programs in other states allow, said Kernan spokesman Jonathan Swain.\n"That is where seniors are really going to see the savings," Swain said.\nThere are about 18,500 seniors enrolled in HoosierRx, a number the Kernan administration would like to expand to 30,000 in the coming months. The state is projected to spend $8 million on HoosierRx this fiscal year.\nThe General Assembly also allocated $8 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1, and another $14.2 million in carry-over funds would be available. That would be enough to pay for 30,000 people enrolled under the new changes, Swain said.\nEllen Whitt, deputy campaign manager for Daniels, said it appeared that changes in Indiana's program were made possible by the new Medicare benefits pushed by President Bush. Daniels was a former White House budget director under Bush, and has been endorsed by the president.\nWhitt also noted that the state has been trying for some time to get more seniors enrolled in HoosierRx.\n"It's about half of what they say they would like enrollment to be, so maybe in part they are going to have to improve the marketing of it," she said.