SOME of America's most vulnerable elderly who do not have prescription drug benefit are most likely to go without the medicines they may need to maintain their health, a recent study has shown. Researchers at the University of California collected information from a random sample of almost 5,000 Americans, 70 or older, with and without drug coverage, who regularly used prescription medicines. Even one of three risk factors - minority ethnicity, income and out-of-pocket drug costs of more than US$100 a month - made it significantly more likely that people without drug benefit coverage would be forced to limit their use of medications due to cost.

In the study, 20.9% of ethnic minority subjects, 15.6% of those with annual incomes under US$10,000 and 13.4% of those with out-of-pocket prescription drug costs of more than US$100 per month experienced medication restriction due to cost. Looked at from a different perspective, low-income study participants lacking prescription drug insurance were about 15 times more likely to limit their use of prescription drugs than low-income participants with full coverage.

Source: Journal of General Internal Medicine, 4 December 2001.