Renewed Senior Rx program gets good response

Monday, July 23, 2001 | 11:06 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The revamped state program to help low-income senior citizens to pay for their prescription drugs has taken off.

The enrollment, which was about 250 people on June 1, has grown to 1,000. In addition, said Jane Smedes, head of Senior Rx, hundreds of applications are being processed.

Gov. Kenny Guinn announced Thursday that information and applications for the program are now on a new website, noting, "It is essential to take advantage of technology in order to make it as easy as possible to gather information abut Senior Rx and enroll quickly and easily."

One initial complaint about the program was that the application form was confusing and burdensome. It has since been simplified.

The program, financed by money from Nevada's share of the nationwide tobacco settlement, was started late last year, but enrollments lagged.

Seniors who earned less than $21,500 a year were eligible, but they were required to pay a monthly premium of about $30 a month, depending on income.

Guinn, working with Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, worked out a compromise, in which the state pays the full premium.

Seniors still pay a co-payment of $10 for a generic drug and $25 for a nongeneric drug for each prescription. The maximum benefit is $5,000 per year per senior.

The new law says enrollment must reach 3,500 by January 2003 or the program will be taken over by the state.

At present the state pays Fidelity Security Life Insurance Co., of Kansas City, Mo., about $5 million a year to run the project.

Guinn expressed confidence target of 3,500 would be easily reached under the revised plan.