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New Effort to Boost Slack Enrollment
Nearly Two Million Low-Income Americans Will
Automatically Get Medicare Drug Discount Cards
Sept. 22, 2004 In the latest effort to enroll
more senior citizens in the Medicare Drug Discount Card Program, the
government will automatically send a discount card to nearly two million
low-income Americans who get state help to pay Medicare premiums.
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More News Expected Tomorrow at Senate Hearing
U.S. Senate Special Committee on
Aging Chairman Larry Craig praised the Bush Administration for
its efforts to help Americas seniors obtain the new
Medicare-approved drug discount cards, and receive additional
financial help.
Today the Bush Administration
announced that over 1.8 million additional American seniors will
be mailed a Medicare-approved drug discount card a card which
will save them approximately 20 percent off the prices they are
now paying out of their own pockets for medications. In
addition, low-income seniors will be advised on how they can
receive $1,200 in additional financial help to cover their
medication costs, Craig said. The average Social Security
check is $895 so I believe $1,200 medication credit should be
a big, big help to our most vulnerable seniors.
Craig noted that he and Medicare
Administrator Mark McClellan will meet tomorrow during a forum
the Aging Committee is holding about the savings seniors can
receive with the discount drug cards. The forum, titled, Medicare
Drug Discount Cards: Measuring the Savings, will
begin at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 23, and will be held
in room 628 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
I believe more good news will
be issued at the forum tomorrow, Craig said. |
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The drug discount cards randomly selected from
among the Medicare-approved providers - will go in the mail next month
and can be used immediately to get savings at pharmacies. If
dissatisfied with the care they receive through the random process,
seniors can choose a different card and will be automatically changed
from the original card.
In addition to receiving the card, beneficiaries
will also receive instructions on how to activate the $1,200 benefit
that is available to low-income seniors. To get this benefit the
recipients will have to verify by phone that they meet income guidelines
and do not have other drug coverage.
"Seniors with limited means who are struggling to
pay for their medicines can save right away," said HHS Secretary Tommy
G. Thompson at a news conference today. "We're making it automatic, so
those who qualify for the $1,200 credit get it as soon as possible."
The 1.8 million Medicare beneficiaries getting
cards can activate the $1,200 additional benefit by calling the randomly
selected sponsor or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE.
This new program seems to provide the
administration an out from critics who have been calling for automatic
enrollment of low-income seniors. Only
1.3 million of 7 million low-income seniors have voluntarily signed on
to the program, which provides them a discount card and an additional
$600 annual subsidy. The administration has maintained they could not
choose a card for these people, which was preventing the automatic
enrollment.
Total enrollment in the drug discount card program
is 4.4 million people most of whom were automatically enrolled by HMOs
or state welfare programs.
The letters will go to all people who receive state
help to pay Medicare premiums in what are known as Medicare Savings
Programs (Qualified Medicare Beneficiary, Specified Low-income Medicare
Beneficiary, and Qualifying Individual). Those in the Medicare Savings
Programs meet the income tests to make them eligible for the credit.
"We are taking aggressive steps to provide
literally thousands of dollars in help now through the drug card
program," said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
Administrator Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. "There's no reason that
anyone who pays for medicines out of their own pocket should choose
between paying for drugs and paying for other basic necessities."
The potential credit is $600 per year between now
and the end of 2005. Any portion of the credit that is unused at the end
of 2004 can be carried over into 2005. Beneficiaries need to sign up by
Dec. 31, 2004 to be eligible for the credit.
Beneficiaries who receive letters can call
1-800-MEDICARE or visit
www.medicare.gov to see if their favorite pharmacy takes the card
they received and what discounts are available on the drugs they take.
CMS is also working with more than 100
community-based organizations across the country to reach seniors and
people with disabilities who are struggling with the costs of their
medicines and help them enroll in the discount drug cards and the $600
credit if they qualify. These partners include 92 groups that formed the
Access to Benefits Coalition for the purpose of helping people with
Medicare take advantage of the savings that come with the discount drug
cards.
Medicare beneficiaries who do not receive
prescription drug coverage through Medicaid are eligible for a
Medicare-approved drug discount card. In addition, Medicare
beneficiaries whose annual incomes are below $12,569 for singles and
$16,862 for married couples are eligible for the $600 credit.
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
