Executive Chairman, Richard H. Friedman commented, “We are pleased to have been chosen by CMS as a CAP vendor and to aid the government in its efforts to reduce Medicare drug expenditures and improve patient care. We view this as a great opportunity to further assist physicians in their efforts to optimize patient outcomes and [...]
Forty-eight senators on Wednesday sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) asking him to address legislation that would extend the current May 15 deadline for enrollment in the Medicare prescription drug benefit, the Boston Globe reports. The letter, which was written by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), urges Frist [...]
Mary Ann Morgan knows if she and her husband don’t pick a Medicare drug plan soon, they’ll end up paying higher monthly premiums. How much higher, she isn’t sure.
“They say 1 percent, but how do you figure that out?â€Â? said Morgan, 67. “It’s the same as if you’re going to buy a stock. The fine [...]
“The changes are intended to improve payment accuracy, to be a better reflection of relative costs,” he said. “It more accurately measures the cost of a cardiac case versus, say, a medical case, and reflects those differences.”
“We haven’t had a chance to analyze it yet, but we feel if it’s based on acuity, we’ll come [...]
“But until they enroll, they will have to pay 100 percent of their drug costs.�
Mike Fierberg, regional spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and medicaid services, said the reason the plan has been so successful with the seniors who have enrolled is that “it works.�
“That message seemed to be overwhelmed by the stories about confusing, [...]
Since the federal government rolled out the Medicare prescription drug benefit in January, independent pharmacies said their businesses were often left holding the bill for medications they dispensed while drug plan providers took months to reimburse them.
Since February, however, local pharmacies say they have managed to get their finances back on track, despite the vast [...]
The program has attracted about 30 million elderly and disabled people, officials said Thursday. “If we keep the same pace of enrollment, we have a shot at being able to achieve 90 percent of all seniors and (disabled) people in this country with prescription coverage,” said Health and Human services Secretary Mike Leavitt. “If we [...]
“I will tell you that we need a deadline,” he added. “We need a deadline because people will put it off unless they have one.”
“The plans will be more mature, consumers will be better informed, the government will be better at its role, the pharmacies will understand the system.”
Robert Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights [...]
“For this $1.3 trillion program, the administration now reveals that less than 20 percent of people with Medicare have new drug coverage,” or about 8.1 million of 43 million people who are eligible, said Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center. “Others have somewhat better coverage, others are worse off.”
But McClellan said that [...]
“The likelihood is if you choose the least expensive Medicare D option available to you during a period when you believe yourself not needing coverage, the cost you pay over some period of time in the coming months or years would quickly be offset by the lower cost of premiums at a future date when [...]
“Your constituents should not be pushed into making a decision that may end up being the wrong one for them because of an unreasonable deadline,” says a form letter posted on the group’s website. “Nor should they face a minimum 7 percent lifetime penalty for failing to enroll on time.”
But the Bush administration says the [...]
The letters come as the government and insurers are encouraging people to sign up for the program before the May 15 deadline. The letters say insurers’ records show no payment and warn that if payment isn’t received by May 31, “we will have to disenroll you.”
Jackie Kosecoff, an executive with a division of UnitedHealth, says [...]
“Most of the people that are being signed up think they are getting drug coverage,” Crouse said. “They are not understanding that what they’re getting is a managed care-type situation.”
“It’s very confusing to them,” Haire said of Medicare recipients. “They find they’re enrolled in Part C, they’re dis-enrolled in Part A and B and their [...]
“We have to keep that deadline because we want people to take it seriously,” the Republican senator said. “I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and say, ‘I’ve held off until the seniors conference to get advice.’ I think they need to check into it now.”
“It would be very beneficial and only [...]
“The bottom line is that you should consider a Canadian pharmacy whenever you have to pay full price out-of-pocket. Why pay full-price locally when you can pay half-price and have your meds delivered right to your doorstep.”
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