We are definitely committed to finding a solution Kaua’i senior citizens last night urged state legislators to step up efforts to make prescription drugs affordable to Hawai’i residents of today and tomorrow. Not to do so will result in a
We are definitely committed to finding a solution
Kaua’i senior citizens last night urged state legislators to step up efforts to make prescription drugs affordable to Hawai’i residents of today and tomorrow.
Not to do so will result in a lesser quality of life, costly hospitalization and lengthy rehabilitation for residents with disabilities needing medication and senior citizens.
“You can pay for it now, you can pay for it later, and you will pay more for it later,” cautioned American Association of Retired People Kaua’i official Gusippi Palazzolo.
It was a sentiment, he and 10 other residents conveyed to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, which held a meeting in the Kaua’i County Building to solicit public comments on the high cost of prescription drugs and to study solutions that could be fashioned by the Legislature.
Sen. Ron Menor (D-18th District) and chair of the committee, took the message to heart: “We are definitely committed to finding a solution … for the Legislature to take a strong and decision action in our next legislative session.”
Menor said expensive medication affects every segment of society. Consumers make higher co-payments for prescription drugs, and the high costs of medication makes governmental medical insurance programs more costly, he has said.
Similar Senate meetings were held on O’ahu, the Big Island and Maui in August and September.
Menor has offered these possible solutions:
– Financial assistance to residents through grants or tax credits.
– State-sponsored programs allowing residents to enroll in large buying groups that would have contracts with private companies or groups to negotiate discounts on prescription rugs with retailers, pharmacies or large manufacturers of prescription drugs.
– State-mandated price reduction programs.
The task of forging solutions should not be left to the federal government, said Kaua’i resident Jennifer Higa.
A proposal by President Bush to provide for a 10 percent discount on a limited number of prescription drugs won’t help people needing multiple prescription drugs, Higa said.
Ellie Lloyd, director of the Kaua’i County on Elderly Affairs, said federal government help is unclear in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorists attack.
Greg Marchildon, AARP state director, said elected state officials can work with Hawai’i’s congressional team to “send a message to President Bush and the Congress that the time has come for a voluntary, meaningful and comprehensive drug benefit for Medicare beneficiaries.” Medicare currently offers only medical coverage.
Menor and Sen. Jonathan Chun (D-7th District), who attended the meeting but is not a member of the committee, voiced concerns raised by audience members about fixed-income seniors facing the daily dilemma of having to choose between buying food or prescription drugs.
Wealthy people have the money to provide for their needs and poor people can rely on government health programs, Higa said.
But it is people like her aging mother, the wife of a retired plantation worker, who is in the “gap group” and can’t afford necessary medication to maintain optimum health, Higa said.
Nancy Fuertes Fuller, an outreach worker for the county Office of Elderly Affairs, said some of the elderly residents she helps don’t have prescription drug coverage and pay up to $300 a month for medication.
Palazzolo said he and his wife moved to Kaua’i from Michigan a year ago after retiring.
While they have medical coverage through Hawai’i Medical Service Association, they don’t have prescription drug coverage. As a result, because of the cost, his wife could buy medication only for a high cholesterol and not for a high blood pressure condition, Palazzolo said.
Palazzolo said senior citizens seem to be hit the hardest by the high cost of prescription drugs.
While at a pharmacy on Kaua’i, an elderly woman ordered four prescription drugs and, after finding out the cost, “had to decide which one she could afford,” Palazzolo said, stressing that he just thought it was “pathetic.”
Lloyd said the number of Kauaians who are 85 years and older and who will need medication has increased by 69 percent in the last 10 years.
As the Legislature contemplates legislation to help senior citizens, including 170,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Hawai’i, Marchildon noted that:
– Older Americans consume about one-third of all the prescriptions.
– Prescription drugs are the future of the healthcare system.
– Prescription drug spending is rising rapidly.
“You can pay for it now, you can pay for it later, and you will pay more for it later.”
—Gusippi Palazzolo, AARP-Kaua’i
TGI staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net.
