Cynics will see all sorts of hidden motives behind Pfizer’s announcement this week that it will offer a steep discount to low-income seniors for prescription drugs. It’s a ploy to distract from the company possibly overcharging on Medicaid reimbursement, they will say. It’s a way to keep Congress from passing substantial health care reform or a way to grab business from competitors.

The discount may be all those things and more, but Pfizer’s offer of a flat $15 payment on all 30-day prescriptions (the average cost currently is $65) for seniors who qualify is a needed break at a time when Washington seems to have lost the will and the money for providing a Medicare drug benefit. Pfizer now joins competitors such as GlaxoSmithKline and Norvartis in offering a discount and outdoes them by making its discounts substantial enough to produce a real difference in seniors’ drug bills.

To qualify for the program, which started Jan. 15, a person must be at least 65, have no other drug coverage and have income less than $18,000 annually for individuals or $24,000 for joint gross income. Pfizer calls the discount its Living Share Card program and offers more information and an application at 1-800-717-6005.

Approximately 11 million people on Medicare currently have no drug coverage, and while not all will meet the requirements of the Pfizer program or need the drugs offered by Pfizer, many will and could benefit. According to its Web page, Pfizer makes nine of the 50 drugs most often prescribed to Medicare patients, including drugs for high blood pressure, diabetes, depression and impotence.

None of this, however, excuses Congress from developing a more comprehensive means to make prescription drugs affordable. Money to have been set aside to do just that after the president’s tax cut but

it seems to have evaporated with the surplus. The inability of Congress to agree on something as straightforward as extending health care benefits of the unemployed suggests a larger health-care bill will be difficult to reach.

But until Congress acts, the best bet for seniors are discounts offered in some states, such as Maine, and the programs such as Pfizer’s – a generous if narrow break for people who could really use one.