Under new Medicare program, seniors nationwide having problems
getting medication
Gilroy – Marjorie Stiles witnessed the frustration local seniors endured after changes to Medicare took effect last month. The community director for Village Green senior living complex watched helplessly as some struggled with the paperwork and were baffled by the new system.
“I have a few people who were in tears crying,” she explained. “It’s made a lot of people very, very upset.”
Under the Medicare program, private plans receive government subsidies to provide prescription drugs to recipients.
Stiles estimates that 40-percent of the seniors in the complex had problems getting their prescription medications when the new benefit plan began Jan. 1.
They weren’t alone.
Tens of thousands of seniors nationwide encountered difficulties getting their medications after the switch. Many were not listed in the computer system as having enrolled, others were charged more than was expected for the drugs.
According to pharmacy technician Roberta Stanford of the Medical Pavilion Pharmacy at Saint Louise Regional Hospital, many seniors were never issued new Medicare cards, others didn’t know which plan they were on, and some had additional co-payments they were unaware they were responsible for paying.
They weren’t alone either.
“Nobody told us much of anything,” Stanford said. “Nobody from Medicare came and explained it … I don’t think things were explained well to a lot of the seniors.”
It took about three weeks after changes were implemented for the pharmacy to upload the new program into their computer system. Both pharmacists and patients who called Medicare for help in the days after the switch were told to call back later or wait on the line, Stanford explained.
She heard stories of some patients waiting three days until their call went through to a representative.
“Some of these seniors were given a few days supply (of medicine),” she said. “We couldn’t let them go without it … I think they didn’t realize just how extensive the Medicare system is,” she said.
In late January, federal officials announced they would reimburse states who purchased medicines for seniors having difficulty getting their prescriptions under the new benefit program.
Since Medical Pavilion Pharmacy got an eligibility program installed on computers, sorting problems out has gotten a lot easier.
However, more than 20 states have continued emergency coverage for some beneficiaries.
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced last week that the state will sue to challenge the federal prescription drug plan, arguing that a provision in the new program is unconstitutional because it requires at state to pay for a federal program.
“This plan may be profitable for drug companies, but it has been a disaster for seniors, and it threatens to be a nightmare for the state’s taxpayers,” Lockyer said in a release. “We believe the federal law is unconstitutional. We are going to challenge it to ensure the state does not have to pay the federal government for a program that has more flaws than prescriptions.”
Lockyer’s office estimated that the state could be faced with a net loss of more than $750 million over the next three years.
