Minnesota Officials Address Medicare Prescription Problems

A St. Paul, Minnesota Medicare official said today that a system glitch that has left hundreds of Minnesotans unable to get prescription drugs should be able to be identified and quickly fixed.

Low-income people on both Medicare and Medicaid encountered problems after coverage of their drug costs was transferred to the new Medicare drug benefit on January 1, 2006, according to an Associated Press article.

Medicare and the computer databases of some private insurance companies appear to be the culprits in the problem. Pharmacists checking their on-line databases aren’t able to see data that many of their low-income customers qualify for a subsidy, reducing their drug costs to $1 or $3 per prescription. State officials said they are working on solving the problem.

Officials at Medicare in St. Paul said that they are working with Minnesota Linkage Line to help work out the problem. Clients can call the Minnesota Linkage Line for counseling and advice but should expect to wait a while since the two state “help phone lines” have been overwhelmed by calls. According to officials, some calls have taken up to four hours in wait time with Medicare, raising concerns for individuals who are frantic to get their medications.

The Medicare drug benefit, approved by Congress in 2003, is open to all 43 million Medicare beneficiaries, including 700,000 Minnesotans.

The next open enrollment period begins Nov. 15, 2006.

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Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com

Topics Minnesota