Drug bills create hardship for many: One-third struggle to pay

By The Associated Press

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WASHINGTON — Almost a third of Americans say paying for prescription drugs is a problem in their families, and many are cutting dosages to deal with the crunch, according to a poll by The Associated Press.

Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed in the AP-Ipsos poll said the government should make it easier to buy cheaper drugs from Canada or other countries.

Carol Valentine of Melbourne, Fla., said she lost her job after having surgery and faces $600 to $700 in drug bills each month and has no insurance to pay for them. Without a local clinic's help paying for those drugs, "I'd be dead," said Valentine, who is 52 and disabled. "A lot of people I know skip meals because they can't afford medicine."

The poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs found that most people surveyed either take prescription drugs or have a family member who does. Of those, 33 percent said their families have trouble paying at times. Of those with such trouble, three-fourths say the solution often is to cut back on the dosage.

The high cost of prescription drugs will be an important issue in the presidential campaign, said eight in 10 in the poll. Almost half said it will be "very important."

"This still needs to be dealt with," said Carolyn Keenan, a 57-year-old assistant principal from Gibson Island, Md. "There are a lot of elderly people who do not think they're going to get the help they need."

The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,000 adults was conducted Feb. 16-18 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Congress in November passed a Republican-written Medicare prescription-drug benefit that goes into effect in 2006. President Bush signed the bill in December. While it will help many seniors pay for medicine, it also increases the role of private insurance in the Medicare system.

Despite the new law — which is estimated to cost $534 billion over the next decade — 52 percent of those polled said Democrats were more likely to make prescription drugs more affordable; 33 percent said Republicans would do better at it.

Two popular steps that could have made prescription drugs more affordable were forbidden by the new law:
 
• Letting Americans import drugs from Canada, Mexico and other countries, an idea supported by 65 percent of those polled.

• Giving the government authority to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices, favored by 71 percent.

Both Democrats and Republicans have been looking for ways to turn the drug debate to their advantage. Democrats have sharply criticized gaps where patients have to pick up the entire cost of medicine. GOP strategists have advised those in their party to emphasize the new benefits rather than other changes in the Medicare program and to remind people that the changes are voluntary and only a start toward solving a problem affecting many seniors.

In a related development, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm said yesterday the Bush administration had rejected a program that saved Michigan and Vermont millions of dollars by allowing them jointly to negotiate lower prices from drug companies.

The two states were the first to pool resources for buying drugs under the state-federal Medicaid program, which provides health care to the poor. Other states, including New Hampshire and South Carolina, were considering joining.

Granholm, a Democrat, said the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rejected the program on grounds that it violated federal procurement procedures. Eileen Kostanecki, Granholm's health-care adviser in Washington, said Medicaid officials told her to expect an official rejection letter next month.

Mary Kahn, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said yesterday that there has been no official response from the agency and that the program still is under review.

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