News Report | May 4, 2020
9% Of Long-Term Care Residents Receive Less Medication Than Needed Due To Inadequate Prescription Coverage
About 8.9% of Medicare beneficiaries residing in long-term care facilities during 2011 to 2013 paid for all medications out-of-pocket (OOP). Long-term care Medicare enrollees without drug coverage or with private insurance received significantly fewer prescriptions than if they had been enrolled in Medicare Part D. During 2012, beneficiaries without any drug coverage received 43.6 fewer prescriptions than those with Part D, non-low income subsidy (LIS) coverage. Beneficiaries with only temporary drug payment assistance, for example, through the Medicare hospice benefit, received 43.9 fewer prescriptions, on average. The average number of prescriptions filled . . .