Rx plan pushed for disabled Nevadans

About 5,000 Nevadans with disabilities could get help with their health care costs under a plan being pushed by Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas.

Buckley hopes to create a "Disability Rx" program that would cover Medicare co-payments, deductibles and a so-called "doughnut hole" in the new federal Medicare prescription drug program that forces people to pay full price for drugs.

Money for the program would come from part of the state's tobacco settlement fund. The state also would obtain federal matching funds.

Many people with disabilities end up using much of their income on health care costs, leaving them little money to live, Buckley said Monday.

"If you're 60 with cancer and you get $700 a month in Social Security, you can't afford the copays, the deductible and the doughnut hole," she said.

Under the Medicare drug plan, recipients pay about $750 to get their first $2,250 in drug benefits each year. After that, the doughnut hole kicks in. Patients must pay 100 percent of their drugs until their yearly drug total adds up to $5,100.

Once they hit $5,100 in drug costs, patients pay a simple $2 per generic drug, $5 per brand-name drug.

The state had planned a similar program in the 2003 legislative session to help people with disabilities, but the federal matching funds were cut, Buckley said.

"The (state) funds are there and are set aside for the waiver program that the Bush administration eliminated," Buckley said.

People with disabilities told legislators in 2003 they wanted more funds for prescription drugs, respite programs and adaptive care such as wheelchairs and voice recorders, Buckley said.

Paul Martin, president of Nevadans for Equal Access, said his group sees people with disabilities every day "who are spending all of their money on their medicines and have no money left for necessities such as buying groceries or paying the utility bill."