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Some Medicare prescription plans increased prices for drugs to as much as $400 or more a year during January, the first month of the federal program, a sampling by Consumers Union found.

The average increase in cost among the drugs checked in five U.S. zip codes was 5 percent, William Vaughan, Consumers Union senior policy analyst, wrote in a letter to Mark McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, known as CMS.

"It was a very small sample, but we're worried that if this is the kind of thing that is happening, it could become a severe consumer problem," Vaughan said.

In the letter, Vaughn said the survey wasn't meant to be a "true representative sample," though it may serve as a warning. He said most participants believed they were locking in prices for at least a year.

CMS spokesman Gary Karr said the center has tracked prescription drug plans since Medicare adopted the program.

"Our analysis shows there have not been any significant price increases at all and pretty big savings," Karr said. "We have done a much wider monitoring and have not found any large changes in drug prices except where there was a data error."

Vaughan surveyed drug plans at the end of December and again around Jan. 31 in Long Island, N.Y.; Bonifay, Fla; Chicago; Caddo Mills, Texas, and rural Northern California.

He checked the price of the cholesterol drug Lipitor, as well as what it cost to buy a five-pack of Lipitor; Altace for high blood pressure; Celebrex for joint pain; Nifedipine for chest pain and Zoloft for anti-depression. The sampling found that in New York, 38 of 47 plans raised the cost of the five-drug package, with the average increase at $155.80.