Medicare prescription drug cards: effectiveness for patients with glaucoma.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the level of discounts on glaucoma medications provided by the Medicare prescription drug card program.

METHODS: We compared the cost of a 1-month supply of 10 brand-name drugs and 1 commonly prescribed combination of drugs purchased at retail cash price, Medicare card-discounted price, and online price. Retail cash prices were collected through a telephone survey of 36 chain pharmacies in 4 states. Card-discounted prices were obtained from an online database updated weekly by Medicare for each drug, drug card, and state in our survey. Prices for drugs purchased online were collected from a leading online drugstore not affiliated with any retail stores that were included in the telephone survey.

RESULTS: Card-discounted prices for each drug ranged between 13% and 25% lower on average than retail prices. However, drugs purchased online were cheaper on average than drugs purchased with cards for 7 of the 10 medications surveyed.

CONCLUSIONS: Drug cards provide significant discounts over retail prices. However, cards may be a secondary option to online purchasing, which may be cheaper and may offer seniors more flexibility to switch between glaucoma therapies. Ophthalmologists can take simple steps to guide seniors to the optimal purchasing option for a given drug in their region.