Gregoire seeks drug-plan moratorium

OLYMPIA — Thousands of fragile, elderly and poor Washington citizens are facing huge new prescription-drug costs as they shift to Medicare coverage, and Uncle Sam must help out, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Monday.

The governor joined Sen. Patty Murray, a fellow Democrat, in calling for a moratorium on the shift to a new prescription-drug benefit.

"All we are asking is, don't make these people worse off than they were," Gregoire told a news conference at the Capitol.

The governor said her office has been flooded with calls from pharmacists and affected citizens complaining about the expense and difficulty of moving to the new system.

About 95,000 "dual eligibles" in Washington have been on Medicaid and are being shifted to Medicare, Part D, for the drug benefit. Another 22,800 are partially eligible for benefits from both systems.

Besides having to find a new plan to join, elders and other beneficiaries are having to pay a co-pay. Gregoire said the average recipient has seven prescriptions, some as many as 15.

"These are some of our most fragile individuals, many of them highly dependent on mental-health prescriptions and their grants are about $550 a month," she said. "So you suddenly tell them they have a $3 co-pay on every prescription and they have 15 and they are suddenly in dire straits."

Gregoire said the state can't afford to pick up the co-pays, since it would cost at least $14 million a year. The state already is paying more for health services that long have been a federal responsibility, she said.

"This wasn't supposed to cost the states and it already is," she said. "This just isn't fair to the states and it clearly isn't fair to these individuals. ... On the ground, here in Washington state, it is not working."

Gregoire said she spoke twice last week with Mike Leavitt, head of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, but that he's unable to do anything.

Gregoire endorsed Murray's legislation to give people six more months to transition onto Medicare without a penalty. The senator also has a second proposal that would give recipients until January 2008 to pick a drug plan without penalty.

Murray said last week that colleagues have been getting an earful back in their home states during the January recess, and that she's optimistic that some relief will be approved.

Medicare officials did not immediately return calls for comment.