How’s this for the ultimate Medicare entitlement irony? Medicare Part D offers, among many other benefits, the option for qualified beneficiaries to enroll in medication therapy management (MTM) plans with their pharmacy. The goal is to create a better informed patient-as-consumer among  myriad Medicare D  beneficiaries who suffer from many chronic illnesses requiring substantial polypharmacy — and hence, costs, to maintain their current state of health, improve it, and hopefully prevent further comorbid decline. To qualify for such a benefit within Part D, the beneficiary must be enrolled in the Medicare Part D drug program, have at least three chronic health conditions, take eight or more medications covered by Part D and spend at least $3,000 yearly on the medications.

Sounds fair enough and tailor-made for many seniors in the program. But there’s one problem: expense. Increasing numbers of racial minorities — predominant among them, Latinos and African-Americans — cannot afford many of those Part D-covered medications. They are less likely to gain medical access for a host of reasons, and cultural encumbrances make that latter problem more profound. Researchers studying this issue cite the potential problems that may occur with widening the racial healthcare disparity in terms of access — whether it be for affordable pharmacy or acute medical care. If it is incumbent upon the Obama administration to enrich Medicare on many levels, the systematic exclusion of many patients not able to take part in any part of the entitlement may set out to increase future healthcare costs if access to these government programs remains prohibitive | LINK

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