Originally published February 23 2006
Feds will pay back states that have covered patients during Medicare crisis
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Mark McClellan, head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, announced that the government intends to reimburse states that have been trying to compensate for the many glitches in the new Medicare prescription drug plan by paying medication costs for neglected seniors.
The federal government will help reimburse states that have been paying for prescription drugs after glitches with Medicare's new benefit left many patients stranded, U.S. health officials said Tuesday.
States should first seek reimbursement from companies offering the plans, but Medicare will help pay for any difference, Mark McClellan, head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said.
the costs that they would have paid for the drugs under the Medicare program.
If there's a difference, if the state reimbursement rates are higher, then Medicare will pay that difference in cost," McClellan told reporters in a conference call.
McClellan called on the states "to work with us" and stop paying for the drugs by Feb. 15, although certain states may be able to get an extension.
Enrollment glitches have left hundreds of thousands of Medicare's elderly and disabled caught without coverage for their medicine since Jan. 1.
Most of those affected have been those also enrolled in Medicaid, which covers the poor.
About half of the states have stepped in to pay for their drugs, but many have been calling for reimbursement.
McClellan previously said Medicare could not pay the states under law.
That led some members of Congress, mostly Democrats, to call for new legislation.
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