Rash of misleading stories about mail order pharmacies,
importance to seniors, low-income and uninsured doesn’t
hide Part D failures, heavy hand of drug companies says
publisher of leading seniors’ web site

St. Louis, MO, —A rash of misleading stories about the continued benefits of safe, affordable prescription drugs from mail order pharmacies was described today by the publisher of a leading seniors’ informational web site as bearing the mark of the ‘heavy hand’ of large drug companies to discredit those sites and to mask the failure of the Part D Prescription Drug Card Plan. 

Daniel Hines is publisher of www.TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com and a communications consultant with industry groups and associations working to make safe, affordable prescriptions available to seniors, low-income groups and the un- and under-insured.  

He says that the appearance in media across the nation  of several stories about state-sponsored sites is a crude attempt by drug companies to continue to orchestrate misleading public relations to undermine the valuable contribution of all mail order pharmacies. 

“In the latest rash of stories, the claim is made that state-sanctioned web sites listing approved pharmacies in Canada have had a poor reception and are not really necessary,”  Hines says. 

“This comes on the heels of a myriad of stories about the ‘acceptance’ of Part D plans, continued attempts to coerce seniors and others from turning to registered and safe mail-order pharmacies outside the U.S., and  seizures of prescribed medicines by the FDA and Customs in an attempt to scare seniors away from what is their only source of life-maintenance prescriptions. 

Hines notes that the stories were only about state-sanctioned web sites, and failed to explain that  web sites for licensed, registered and reputable pharmacies had made the state sites just one part of making safe, affordable prescriptions available.  

“The fact is that their needs are met by individual pharmacy sites or  seniors' advocacy groups,” he explains. 

The articles talked about what it described as a relatively low participation in a state-sponsored site in MN, but failed to point out that a leading seniors’ advocacy group in that state is the sponsor of its own program that serves not only its membership but that of other states' seniors as well. 

In another example of the leadership of such advocacy groups, a California-based organization is preparing the launch of an innovative site dealing with global sourcing, working with not only seniors, but with the un- and under-insured, low-income people and those aged 50 to 64.   

This will address the continuing problem for people for whom prescription drugs would otherwise be unavailable because of the predatory pricing practices of large pharmaceutical companies. 

Also, despite the FDA putting seniors' safety and well-being at risk by seizures of prescription drugs in a sporadic effort to coerce America's Seniors, large numbers of elderly that find that dealing with licensed reputable pharmacies via the internet and mail order is preferable to the flawed Part D program.   

Actually, the real numbers indicate that sign-ups for Part D are lower than expected, and increasingly, Americans seeking to avoid the drastic costs of the 'doughnut hole' are planning on turning to pharmacies outside the U.S. if they know that their drug costs will not drive them into catastrophic coverage and their Part D Benefit can finally start paying again. 

“Add to this the fact that when seniors find that they are in the 'doughnut hole’, receiving no benefit but still paying a premium, one can anticipate a backlash over having to pay an insurance premium for coverage they are not receiving,” Hines says. 

“The real solution is a complete overhaul of Part D, reduction in the number of plans offered, allowing negotiations for bulk purchases, and inclusion of registered pharmacies from outside the U.S. in relieving the financial burden of the ‘doughnut hole’,” Hines says.  “It is time for health care policy to reflect the needs of our population, not merely the profit motives of drug companies.”