Health insurers say flexibility in Medicare prescription plan design encourages competition, but pharmacists say the large number of options confuses consumers.
About 74% of the 802 pharmacists who participated in a recent survey commissioned by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Menlo Park, Calif., said Medicare now offers too many drug plans.
Although 45% of the participating pharmacists said they have a favorable impression of the Medicare Part D prescription program, 91% said they "somewhat agree" or "strongly agree" with the statement that the program is "too complicated."
Only 2% of the participants strongly disagreed with the suggestion that the program is too complicated, Kaiser researchers report.
For pharmacists, having to deal with plan utilization management controls is a major administrative problem, and 21% say that problem is the problem that occurs the most often, Kaiser researchers say.
