“Unfortunately, people who qualify for programs like this often are challenging to reach. Only about a third of those who qualify for government assistance programs ever sign up for them,” said Monica Kosman, president of Oregon‘s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), a partner of the Medicare Rx Access Network of Oregon. [...]
“beneficiaries should seriously consider enrolling in Medicare prescription drug coverage, which can provide a 50 percent savings on their prescription drug costs,” Insurance Director Ann Womer Benjamin said. “Many plans are available so beneficiaries can best match their prescription drug needs with their budget.” Read more on this topic.
“As people get together, it’s a good time for families to discuss it and make some decisions, if need be,” said Mike Fierberg, a Medicare spokesman in Denver. “We urge people to talk with their parents, their grandparents, their aunts and uncles – the older generation, if you will. Bring it up.” “The pharmaceutical companies [...]
Brian Poger, president of national advocate Senior Educators, called it a potential “nightmare” and said that with the shorter period this year, “people are going to need all the help they can get to make sure they are enrolled.” “I’ve been to meetings on it, and I walked away even more confused,” said Betty Karlen [...]
“These new data build on the President’s commitment to making more quality and price information available,” Secretary Leavitt said. “By posting data about federal health care programs like Medicare, we are on our way to giving Americans the information they need to make informed health care decisions.” “The new information on physicians and hospital outpatient [...]
If the payments are lowered, she said, “there would be a contraction of choices, and members of Congress have worked very hard to get choices in those areas.” Read more on this topic.
“This award is a tribute not only to our employees, but also to the commitment of our member hospitals across the nation,” said Richard A. Norling, Premier’s president and chief executive officer. “These farsighted community hospitals created Premier as a way to work together to continuously improve patient outcomes while safely reducing the cost of [...]
“It’s a comprehensive approach to health care and it’s not controlled by doctors. We’re in trouble in Canada because our health care system is being controlled by doctors.” “The Harper government will not enforce the Canada Health Act,” she said. “They openly operate two-tier systems in both Quebec and British Columbia and this must be [...]
More generally, the panel said states should be free “to consolidate or redefine eligibility categories” and should be given “greater flexibility to design medicaid benefit packages.” The proposals drew a swift negative response from Democrats who will be responsible for medicaid in the new Congress. Representative John D. Dingell of Michigan, who is in line [...]
“HHS’ most recent Performance and Accountability Report clearly illustrates the department’s commitment to manage its financial resources and programs at the highest of standards,” Secretary Leavitt said. “As evidenced by our efforts leading to this report’s clean audit opinion, HHS takes seriously its responsibility to all Americans.” Read more on this topic.
“We feel we shouldn’t have 6 million people uninsured,” Schwarzenegger said Wednesday in a speech in Los Angeles. “We maybe cannot solve the whole problem, but we definitely can cut it in half and do something that really is impressive and show the rest of the nation that it can be done.” Earlier, he said [...]
“We’re gonna have to look at some kinds of ways that we can improve the coverage of people.” Schumer said. “Because even people now who have coverage are paying more and getting less back.” Read more on this topic.