(Washington, D.C.) U.S. Rep. Mike Ross (AR-04) Friday sent a
letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert urging the Speaker to reconvene
the House of Representatives on Tuesday, January 17th, two weeks earlier
than scheduled, to repair the badly flawed prescription drug benefit.
This request comes at a time when Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries throughout
the country are unable to fill necessary medications under the newly implemented
Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit.
Today's appeal to Speaker Hastert came just two days after Governor
Mike Huckabee announced plans to cover beneficiaries in the short-term
with state funds. At least four other states have taken similar emergency
measures to make sure beneficiaries do not go without life-saving medications
while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services solves the inadequacies
of the new and badly flawed drug benefit. These problems stem from
wrongly classified beneficiaries and beneficiaries inadvertently left out
of the system all together. Ross has also called on the Administration
to reimburse states for cost incurred for dual eligible beneficiaries who
lost coverage during the rocky transition to the new drug benefit.
The text of the letter is provided below.
January 13, 2006
The Honorable Dennis Hastert
Speaker
U.S. House of Representatives
H-232 Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Speaker Hastert:
As you are aware, the recently implemented Medicare Part D system has
posed a series of problems for both beneficiaries and pharmacists.
Since the start of the program thirteen days ago, thousands of dual eligibles
have been faced with obstacles in obtaining needed medications. These beneficiaries
either have not been entered into the system or have been wrongfully classified
as standard Medicare beneficiaries and are therefore subject to substantially
higher co-payments. In addition, standard Medicare beneficiaries
who have signed up for individual plans are not being recognized.
Both beneficiaries and pharmacies are waiting as long as six hours to speak
with a representative on the phone. As a result, these obstacles
are causing thousands of Medicare beneficiaries to go without necessary
life saving medications. Lack of medicine or disruption in medication routine
will ultimately lead to increased doctor and hospital visits, therefore
creating unnecessary increased costs to our health care system.
Local pharmacists have been working endlessly to assist these beneficiaries
in obtaining needed medications. Some of the pharmacists in our state have
gone as far as absorbing the cost of these beneficiaries’ medications in
the hopes of being reimbursed once the problems with the system are resolved.
Others simply cannot afford to bear this financial burden and continue
to keep their doors open. As a result, they have had to deny beneficiaries
their prescriptions. Many states, such as Arkansas, are taking matters
into their own hands and allowing their state pharmacists to bill their
state Medicaid programs in the hopes the federal government will ensure
states will be reimbursed for these costs.
Cleary the problems that have arisen from implementation of Medicare
Part D call for serious measures to be taken. I ask that you call
Congress to reconvene next Tuesday, January 17, 2006 for a special session
to last as long as it takes to find viable solutions for these problems.
Such legislative action needs to include a federal plan in which states
will be reimbursed for the costs they are incurring in filling prescription
drugs for misplaced beneficiaries.
It is my hope that Congress can work in a bipartisan fashion to help
the millions of Medicare beneficiaries in our country access the needed
medications that was supposedly guaranteed with passage of the Medicare
Modernization Act of 2003.
Sincerely,
Mike Ross
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