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Medicare Says 24 Million Now Have Prescription Drug
Coverage
Number voluntarily joining stand-along plans jumps to
3.6 million
Jan. 17, 2006 – Declaring the Medicare drug plan is
"exceeding our expectations," Health and Human Services Secretary Mike
Leavitt claimed today that "nearly" 24 million are now covered by the
plan. He said in a telephone news conference that this includes 2.6
million who have "signed up" for a stand-along drug plan in the last 30
days and 1 million who had done so in the first 30 days of open
enrollment. This would be a total of 3.6 million voluntary senior
enrollees.
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"Enrollment in the new Medicare drug benefit is
exceeding our expectations and keeping us on track to reach our goal of
28 to 30 million enrollees in the first year," Leavitt said. "We are
filling a million prescriptions a day, and seniors are saying the
benefit is saving them money."
While the system is working for most seniors,
Leavitt said some seniors are experiencing problems getting their
prescriptions filled and added, "we are working as quickly as possible
to resolve these problems, and no senior should leave the pharmacy
without the prescription drugs they need."
It is reported that as many as 20 states have
stepped in to pay for drugs for the seniors who have not been qualified
by Medicare or have been temporarily lost in the system.
"While most of the 2.6 million new enrollments
occurred with the enrollment surge at the end of December, people with
Medicare have continued to sign up steadily since then," said Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mark B. McClellan, M.D.,
Ph.D. "Since November, 1.6 million have signed up on-line, and the
on-line enrollment center at
http://www.medicare.gov/ has been processing an average of over
20,000 enrollments a day through the end of last week," he said.
"Many seniors are signing up for coverage on-line,
often with the help of thousands of local partner organizations or
family members, and many more continue to enroll over the phone and
using paper applications as well," Dr. McClellan said. "Hundreds of
thousands of seniors are saving money every day, and we are working
around the clock to make sure all seniors who participate can take full
advantage of the benefit."
The overall drug benefit enrollment figures as of
Jan. 13 are:
● Stand-alone Prescription Drug Plans: about 3.6
million (2.6 million
since Dec. 13)
● Medicare/Medicaid: 6.2 million (including 600,000 in Medicare
Advantage
plans).
● Medicare Advantage: 4.5 million (plus 600,000 in Medicare/Medicaid)
● Retiree coverage: About 6.4 million retirees are enrolled in the
Medicare retiree subsidy.
Also, as reported last month, about 1 million
retirees are in employer coverage that incorporates or supplements
Medicare's coverage. Another estimated 500,000 retirees are
continuing
in coverage that is as good as Medicare's.
● TRICARE/ FEHB retirees: 3.1 million.
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