Prescription drugs: elderly enrollee reports of financial access, receipt of free samples, and discussion of generic equivalents related to type of coverage.

Objective: To compare elderly health plan enrollee's survey responses regarding access to prescription drugs, receipt of samples, and discussion of generic equivalents across healthcare delivery systems and to examine the extent to which member characteristics are related to responses.

Study Design: Cross-sectional, observational study.

Patients And Methods: Elderly enrollees (aged 65 and over) in the Preferred Provider Organization (PPO in = 10,2201) and Medicare cost contract (n = 14,635) of a single health insurer responded to a 2001 member satisfaction survey.