To help the elderly and disabled with prescription drug costs, the Congress passed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), which created a voluntary outpatient prescription drug benefit (Medicare Part D). A key element of the prescription drug benefit is the low-income subsidy, or ¿extra help,¿ available to Medicare beneficiaries with limited income and resources to assist them in paying their premiums and other out-of-pocket costs. To assess the Social Security Admin¿s. implementation of the subsidy, this report provides info. on: (1) the number of applicants approved for or denied the low-income subsidy; and (2) challenges of identifying individuals eligible for the subsidy and targeting outreach efforts.

To help defray the cost of prescription drugs for beneficiaries with limited means, the Medicare Prescription, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 included the low-income subsidy (LIS) in the Part D prescription drug insurance program. To qualify for the LIS, beneficiaries must be enrolled in a Part D plan and their assets and income must be less than the thresholds established by the law. This report focuses on beneficiaries¿ access to prescription drugs by examining: (1) the importance of assets and income in LIS denials in 2006 and 2007; and (2) state and manufacturer programs providing access to prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries. Charts and tables.

Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy: SSA Continues to Approve Applicants, but Millions of Individuals Have Not Yet Applied