Are my prescriptions now fully coverered under Medicare Part D?

Medicare Part D does not mean universal or total coverage.

The new Plan D introduced by the U.S. Federal government in January 2006 has suffered a few teething pains.

In some cases, patients whose medications were previously covered under Medicaid found themselves having to shell out large co-payments or the full cost up-front because pharmacies and insurers were confused about the actual coverage offered by the federal plan.

The threat to patients' health was considered so severe that 44 states passed various forms of emergency coverage legislation to safeguard patients' access to their prescriptions. Click here for a list of states that have adopted this legislation.

A recent Kaiser Medical report dated June 11 2006 also shows that up to 25% of people who are eligible to receive Part D benefits have not registered to receive them. They may have been unaware of the program deadline of May 15, or they may have looked at the program and decided they could save more by buying their meds through online pharmacies.

The following is taken from the Medical News Today website...

"The survey also examined all seniors' knowledge of the May 15 deadline for enrolling in the drug benefit to avoid incurring a financial penalty. According to the survey, 55% of seniors know the deadline is May 15 (AP/St. Petersburg Times, 4/26). Thirty-eight percent of seniors do not know the correct deadline and 6% said there is no deadline (Kaiser Family Foundation, "Seniors' Early Experiences with the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit," 4/25). Fifty-three percent of seniors know that enrolling after the deadline will result in a financial penalty of a 1% increase in monthly premiums for each month of late enrollment (Wolf, USA Today, 4/26). Forty-seven percent of seniors do not know there is a penalty for late enrollment (AP/St. Petersburg Times, 4/26). The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points for respondents 65 and older (Kaiser Family Foundation release, 4/25). "


So even if you are registered, you may be facing extra costs as pharmacies and insurers wait for clarification.

Hopefully these are just the normal problems associated with a new plan. Only time will tell.