Yeah, this is really a step in the right direction:

...Under federal rules effective Jan. 1, low-income and elderly patients who enroll in the [new Medicare drug] program, known as Medicare Part D, will lose the ability to get free medications through the drugmakers' tax-deductible charities, known as patient-assistance programs.

Some companies, going further, said this week that they would drop patients who were merely eligible for Part D, whether or not they actually enrolled in it, as allowed under long-standing rules.

As a result, in about six weeks, up to half of the roughly three million to four million charity patients nationwide may lose free access to more than 1,200 brand-name drugs, according to estimates of three companies....

News of the cut-off followed a ruling last week by the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services barring companies from giving free drugs to Part D enrollees, hoping to prevent fraud....

Among patients depending on the assistance are at least 6,000 indigent people with HIV or AIDS, according to the advocacy group Title II Community Aids National Network....

Oh well -- those damn poor people were probably just using those lifesaving drugs frivolously anyway, right?