Glitch inflates Medicare drug costs

Medicare officials late Tuesday said a glitch in the government's website that seniors use to compare prescription-drug policies is artificially inflating some annual cost estimates.

The trouble was spotted after Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and the media questioned the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) about why some plans' annual cost estimates have changed since the website went live in mid-November.

Spokesman Gary Karr says CMS updates the website weekly with new information from the plans, which are allowed to adjust drug prices and the amounts Medicare members will pay for those drugs.

But, he says, it also discovered that a computer data problem was artificially inflating drug prices for a plan called Medicare RX Rewards Premier, offered by Unicare. That plan was used as an example by Durbin in a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services Tuesday, questioning why the Unicare cost estimate rose by more than $1,250 since mid-November. The letter also mentioned a Humana plan whose price decreased by $70.

CMS is working to fix the problem, Karr says, adding that it knows of a similar problem with one other plan but could not rule out that there may be others.

Karr says Medicare expects that drug prices will change, perhaps quarterly, adding: "In general, we have not seen much price fluctuation at all, and some price drops."

In a review of drug-plan costs, USA TODAY checked the prices in two ZIP codes, using the same four drugs over a span of three weeks. Two of six plans changed annual estimated costs, although annual premiums and deductibles did not change. The difference showed up in monthly "co-payment" amounts that Medicare members pay for their drugs.

• An Advantage Freedom Plan serving a ZIP code in Northern Virginia had an estimated annual cost of $1,243 three weeks ago. The same plan and drugs were estimated to cost $1,108 annually in a check this week. The company said it updated its files to Medicare, accounting for the cost differential.
• A Blue MedicareRx Value plan in Kansas dropped $79 over three weeks, to $1,230.
• The most expensive plan in each area three weeks ago was no longer the most expensive plan this week, but not because its price changed. Instead, at least four other plans had eclipsed the original most expensive plan, with one being $433 more per year.

"Seniors and the disabled want a plan they can trust," says Gail Shearer at Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports magazine.

"If prices are moving around, it certainly sets off alarm bells."