FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
January 13, 2006
Contact:  Rachel Kleinman
(202) 225-3772
 

Ross Urges Speaker Hastert to Reconvene Congress Two Weeks Early
Congress must repair flawed implementation of Medicare Drug Benefit 
 
(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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