[As Medicare officials try to help seniors understand and enroll in the new benefit, Karr charged, the report shows that Democrats are more interested in rehashing a political argument that raged before Congress approved federally subsidized coverage for seniors in 2003.] Now the effort should really be about educating people and not continuing the same old rhetoric that they have been saying for two years, ... This is not a new expression of the policy views of the minority staff of the Government Reform Committee. |
All Medicare drug plans have to cover all medically necessary treatments. |
As I understand it, every state was asked to participate in this lawsuit. The vast majority obviously did not. |
Based on the prices we've looked at, we believe the drug plans are getting better net prices than those paid under Medicaid. |
Beneficiaries should be hearing from their former employer or union this fall about their coverage options. |
Even if it's apparently limited to that group, it's not acceptable. These people need to have their medications. |
He has known for a long time that he would not be renominated, ... What I told him about the state was that the eyes of the Democratic Party were on us, wondering why we let this happen, why it wasn't us blowing the whistle on Martha Bark. |
I can't go to a tool and put in my drugs and find out which plan gives me the cheapest drugs. I can't do that at all. This, however, does allow you to do that. |
If they're not paying for the claim they should have, we can make sure they do. |
It's important to know that a lot of people will never reach the $2,250 amount. None of this applies to the Medicare beneficiaries who qualify for extra help because they will have no premiums, no deductibles, and no gaps in coverage. |
It's simply asking for comment. |
It's simply asking for comment. Earlier, there were predictions we would not have enough plans. That's clearly not the case now. The question is will it still be of service to beneficiaries if you had fewer. Again, it's not a commitment. |
Many states are reporting they really don't have any problems. Most of the pharmacies seem to be reporting to us that things were easier this week than last week. |
One of the concerns we have is that folks are overly anxious and think they've got to go find a plan today, or find a plan tomorrow or find a plan on Monday. Not only do they not need to decide now, they can't decide now. |
Our analysis shows there have not been any significant price increases at all and pretty big savings. We have done a much wider monitoring and have not found any large changes in drug prices except where there was a data error. |