Pfizer is planning a Medicare drug discount card coalition that will include the company's existing "Share Card."

"We are actively working with leading health care organizations to create a new cooperative program that will offer Medicare beneficiaries immediate assistance with the new Medicare discount card," VP-Pfizer For Living Share Card Program Forest Harper told a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing March 9.

The Share Card allows low-income seniors to receive most Pfizer prescriptions at a flat price of $15 per monthly script.

"Our proposed goal is to ensure continuity of care for our current Pfizer Share Card members," Harper said. "Secondly, we want to provide patients in need with even broader access to the prescription medicines that can help them better manage their health."

The program "will integrate administration expertise and retail pharmacy network access with the prescription drug savings of the Pfizer Share Card, as well as discounts available through other participating companies," Harper's written testimony explains.

"We believe that this cooperative program currently under discussion could be one of the most comprehensive discount cards currently under consideration by CMS," Harper remarked.

Several other manufacturers have previously divulged how their existing drug discount programs will interact with Medicare-endorsed discount cards.

The seven-manufacturer "Together Rx" discount card consortium will continue as a complementary program to the Medicare-endorsed cards until the full benefit begins in 2006 (¹ Also see "“Together Rx” Will Stand Apart From Medicare Drug Cards; Lilly Plans Role" - Pink Sheet, 26 January, 2004., p. 17).

Merck plans to offer its drugs free to low-income seniors who sign up for Medicare-endorsed cards and exhaust their $600 "transitional assistance" federal subsidy (² Also see "Merck Offers Free Drugs To Medicare Rx Debit Card Enrollees" - Pink Sheet, 16 February, 2004., p. 33).

Lilly intends to make its "LillyAnswers" discount program available to seniors with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level through Medicare card sponsors. LillyAnswers provides drugs at a cost of $12 per monthly script.

Pfizer hopes to finalize and announce the partnership "very soon," before the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announces approval of endorsed cards. The announcement is expected in late March.

HHS Secretary Thompson told a House Energy & Commerce Committee hearing March 10 that he was pushing CMS staff to make final decisions on which cards the agency would endorse by March 12. He suggested about half of the card applications would be approved.

"We're looking somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 to 50" endorsed cards out of 103 applications, Thompson said.

CMS previously announced it had received 106 applications (³ Also see "Medicare Discount Card Has 106 Applications; Pennsylvania PACE Plans One" - Pink Sheet, 9 February, 2004., p. 28). Of these, one was a duplicate, one was withdrawn, and "another chose to join with another sponsor," CMS Acting Administrator Dennis Smith told the Senate Aging Committee.

The Senate Aging Committee hearing also focused on Medicare beneficiary education and enrollment.

CMS is expecting its 1-800-MEDICARE line to receive more than double the number of calls in fiscal 2004 (12.8 mil. calls) than it did in fiscal 2003 (5.6 mil. calls), Smith testified.

The agency plans to increase its call service operator staff from 819 to 1,330 operators, Smith said. There were 386 operators in fiscal 2003.

Smith touted CMS' new web-based tool, "Medicare Price Comparison," which will go "live" April 29 (⁴ Also see "Medicare Discount Card Has 106 Applications; Pennsylvania PACE Plans One" - Pink Sheet, 9 February, 2004., p. 28).

"Pricing information will be available for brand name, generic, and mail order prescriptions offered through each card sponsor's program," Smith said.

The website, which provides information on existing drug discount programs, processes up to 25 drugs entered by a consumer and displays the eligible card sponsors ranked from lowest price to highest, based on maximum price or pharmacy level price.

Pfizer Medicare Rx Discount Card Coalition To Employ “Share Card”

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