Cost-related medication nonadherence among beneficiaries with depression following Medicare Part D

Cost-related medication nonadherence (CRN) was problematic for Medicare beneficiaries with depressive symptoms before Medicare Part D.

To estimate changes in CRN and forgoing basic needs to pay for drugs among Medicare beneficiaries with and without depressive symptoms following Part D implementation.

The authors compared changes in outcomes between 2005 and 2006 before and after Part D with changes between 2004 and 2005 using logistic regression to control for demographic characteristics, health status, and historical trends.

The community-dwelling sample of the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (N = 24,234).

Self-reports of CRN (skipping or reducing doses and not obtaining prescriptions) and spending less on basic needs to afford medicines.

The unadjusted annual prevalence of CRN among beneficiaries with depressive symptoms was 27% (2004), 27% (2005), and 24% (2006), compared with 13%, 12%, and 9% among beneficiaries without depressive symptoms. The annual prevalence of spending less on basic needs was 22% (2004), 23% (2005), and 19% (2006), compared with 8%, 9%, and 5% among beneficiaries without depressive symptoms. Controlling for historical changes and demographic characteristics, CRN did not decline among beneficiaries with depressive symptoms compared with beneficiaries without depressive symptoms (ratio of Part D changes 0.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.73-1.32). Respondents with depressive symptoms seemed less likely to spend less on basic needs compared with individuals without depressive symptoms (0.70; 95% CI, 0.49-1.01); however, this difference was not statistically significant.

Despite a Medicare Part D goal to improve medication adherence among mentally ill beneficiaries, the disparity in economic access to medications between beneficiaries with and without depressive symptoms did not improve after the start of Part D.