Drug costs for seniors becoming unbearable

I am 96 years old and live on a small, fixed-income but do not qualify for Medicaid. I wrote Rep. Tom Rice to express my concern for the huge increase in the cost of prescription drugs that will take place in 2017.

I currently pay $6 co-pays for 30 days of medication for each of my four prescriptions for a total of $24 per month. The plan was increasing my deductible to $270 so I switched plans for next year after a representative told me if I had generic prescriptions I would only pay $3 co-pays for 30 days.

Wrong!

All of my prescriptions are for generic medications but none fall under the Tier 1 category. Two of my prescriptions are classified as Tier 2 and will require $15 co-pays. My other two prescriptions are listed as Tier 3 and will require $37 co-pays for 30 days. I will pay $104 per month for my four prescriptions, an increase of $80 per month.

In looking through the booklet, I discovered that only 21 drugs are Tier 1 out of nearly 2000 approved drugs. Don’t the insurance companies have to be accountable to someone?

What are we senior citizens to do? I’m afraid I will have to decide between purchasing food or my medications. I am certain I am not the only senior facing this dilemma.

This story was originally published December 14, 2016 at 6:44 AM with the headline "Drug costs for seniors becoming unbearable."