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To the Editor: High drug costs cause some elderly or disabled patients to take less medication than prescribed or forgo basic needs to pay for medicines.^1-3 The 2006 Medicare Part D drug benefit was intended to increase economic access to medicines.⁴ Data from 2006 indicated modest nationwide decreases in cost-related medication nonadherence (CRN) and forgoing basic needs following Part D implementation, but no decline in high rates of CRN among the sickest beneficiaries.⁵ We analyzed more recent data to determine whether the reductions remained stable in 2007.

Methods

The Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey⁶ (MCBS) is conducted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to inform and evaluate health policies. In-person interviews collect data on health and medical care from a nationally representative, rotating panel of Medicare enrollees. All community-dwelling respondents from 2004 through 2007 were included (n = 14 500 [2004], 14 701 [2005], 14 732 [2006], and 14 804 [2007]; 29 023 unique respondents).

The fall . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Jeanne M. Madden, PhD
jeanne_madden@hphc.org
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts

Amy J. Graves, MPH
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute
Boston

Dennis Ross-Degnan, ScD
Harvard Medical School

Becky A. Briesacher, PhD
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Worcester

Stephen B. Soumerai, ScD
Harvard Medical School

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