Tennesseans pay highest Medicare costs

Tennesseans pay the highest Medicare drug plan premiums in the country because of their poor health.

Tennesseans have high rates of obesity and other high-risk health factors, prompting them to take many drugs. Last year, Tennessee tied with Kentucky and West Virginia for the highest rate of prescriptions per capita among the 50 states, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

But many Tennesseans are in bad health and take many medications, said Lawrence Brown, an assistant professor of pharmacy at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

“In general, you have to imagine that people in poorer health use more prescriptions, because they have more diagnosed health conditions,” said Lawrence Brown, an assistant professor of pharmacy at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. “Remember, insurance is all based on probability of claims and intensity of claims.”

Retired real estate agent Anne Dickerson pays $18.20 for her monthly prescription premium through Humana Inc. That rate would be $15.70 per month in California and $11.70 in Alaska.

“You’d think it would be the other way around because we have a lot of poor folks and housing prices are low,” she said.

Drug companies set their prices in coordination with state and regional formulas set by the federal government.

“Certain states, frankly, are healthier than others,” said Jeff Blunt, a spokesman for Humana, one of the nation’s largest insurers. “And one of the biggest things that drives costs is use.”