Free Republic

WASHINGTON, April 26 — The Bush administration issued a new policy on Wednesday that protects Medicare beneficiaries against the sudden loss of coverage for drugs they are taking under the prescription drug program. Under the policy, insurers can still change their lists of covered drugs, known as formularies. But if they drop any drugs or impose new restrictions, they must exempt beneficiaries who are now taking those drugs. Dr. Mark B. McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, summarized the policy this way: "In general, a plan cannot change your coverage for the drugs you are using...

(AP) ELLETTSVILLE, Ind. With time running out to enroll in the federal government's new prescription drug benefit, advocates for the elderly say they are being inundated with phone calls and last-minute visits from seniors. "The last two weeks have been crazy," said Jason Carnes, the center developer for the Area 10 Agency on Aging, where calls and visits have been running about twice the normal number. Last week, President Bush and other administration officials urged an estimated 6 million to 7 million Medicare beneficiaries still without prescription drug coverage to enroll by May 15. Under the program, 43 million elderly...

TULSA, Okla., March 21 — When Virginia G. Shores went to a pharmacy here to pick up five prescriptions, she thought she heard the pharmacist say she owed $250, but she was wrong. The cost, with her new Medicare prescription drug card, was just $50. "I was flabbergasted," said Mrs. Shores, whose kitchen counter looks like a medicine chest, full of pills for high blood pressure, heart failure, arthritis, nerve pain and lung disease. Mrs. Shores, 80, had been buying medicines from a mail-order pharmacy in Winnipeg, Manitoba, but now uses Medicare instead. "I was amazed at the amount of...