The Medicare Drug Mess (Editorial) | NYT | 1.22.06
After getting off to a promising start last fall, the new Medicare prescription drug program has stumbled badly in recent weeks, leaving tens of thousands of patients unable to obtain essential medicines.…
The immediate problems…most of the snags occurred in the part that should have been the easiest to execute smoothly – the automatic switchover of more than six million poor people from the Medicaid programs in their home states to the new Medicare drug program.
…
Nobody knows how many people were affected, but officials acknowledge it may be in the tens of thousands. California alone says that some 200,000 of its one million Medicaid patients had trouble getting medications during the switchover, an astonishing error rate.…
Prediction: Medicare Part D will be vastly more expensive then originally conceived and tremendously error–riden (this is just the start).
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
My father registered during the last week of December with Humana to provide his part D benefits (after I walked him thru the registration process online – and he uses a computer regularly even at 71). He finally received his card in the mail about a week ago – 2 weeks after he required refills of his 2 most expensive medications. Then today he got ANOTHER card. He's hoping Humana is not going to deduct twice from his social security. So far I am unimpressed. I may be footing the bill for his next statin and ARB refills if Humana does not get their act together.
My father registered during the last week of December with Humana to provide his part D benefits (after I walked him thru the registration process online – and he uses a computer regularly even at 71). He finally received his card in the mail about a week ago – 2 weeks after he required refills of his 2 most expensive medications. Then today he got ANOTHER card. He’s hoping Humana is not going to deduct twice from his social security. So far I am unimpressed. I may be footing the bill for his next statin and ARB refills if Humana does not get their act together.