Kathleen Harrington, director of external affairs at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:  

"Any extra help they need can and should be provided by those other sources."

This is ironic, as the rx companies earlier claimed that they were prohibited from doing so under the Medicare D(isaster) legislation.

...ending programs that provided free or discounted prescriptions to elderly Americans now that pharmaceutical benefits are widely available under the Medicare program--saying government rules are forcing them to back away...companies say certain of their assistance programs could be interpreted as a kickback to win loyalty to their prescriptions.

In response to these concerns, an advisory opinion re:  the legality of patient assistace programs issued.  However, that opinion only applied to the one company that requested it, Schering-Plough.  

After January 1, 2006, when Medicare D(isaster) went into effect, Steve Worrell, 53, of Black Hawk, Colo., lost the free rx's a drug company was providing for arthritis. Faced with a $5,400 yearly rx bill under Medicare, he self-rationed his needed rx's.

"You start swelling up, and you start twisting more."

Some effected by the increases in rx costs, premiums, and higher co-pays under Medicare D(isaster)have family and friends who are able to assist them w/increasing rx costs.

•  A Kaiser Family Foundation poll taken April 6-11 found 55% of 154 seniors who had enrolled said the plan would save them money, 19% said it would cost more, and another 19% said they would break even.

•  A KRC Research poll taken March 15-20 for the Medicare Rx Education Network, a consortium of groups working to implement the law, found 59% of 201 enrolled seniors saved money, but 23% did not.

•  Most of the 6.4 million low-income people transferred from state Medicaid had no co-payments for drugs under Medicaid but now pay $1 to $5 per drug.

•  Others [who see no savings or pay increased costs]  used to get drugs for free from drug companies or at reduced cost in state programs; those who had less expensive employer retiree coverage; and those with little or no current drug expenses who signed up for a Medicare plan as a hedge against future costs.

Others do not.  Those who fit that description are living a frightening existance, and they know it is temporary.  The fear of not being able to afford rx's that are necessary is paralyzing.  State agencies claim they have increased caseloads and an increasing amount of necessary paperwork that needs to be completed to assist people who are facing an emergency situation.  As a result, people who are dependent on social services for survival are "falling through the cracks".  Translated, that means that nothing is being done for them.

It is a slow, sadistic torture.

On the other hand, drugmakers GlaxoSmithKline Plc and AstraZeneca Plc and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. reported first-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates.  According to Reuters,

Glaxo makes most of its money in the US...had its "eyes open" to acquisition opportunities but declined to comment on whether the firm was interested in buying Pfizer Inc.'s consumer products business.