As companies devise insurance policies for the new Medicare drug program, federal officials are pressing them to offer a surprisingly generous array of prescription drug choices, according to industry executives.
As a result, experts say, the Medicare drug benefit, which begins in January, is shaping up to give beneficiaries access to a larger number and a wider variety of prescription drugs than are now available to many workers and retirees with private employer-sponsored health insurance.
The Bush administration is revising a preliminary draft of the 2006 Medicare handbook – the main tool for educating beneficiaries – after discovering that many statements in the document were inaccurate, misleading or unclear, even to people who have worked on the program for decades.
Elderly people with low incomes may lose some of their food stamps if they sign up for the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, the Bush administration said Saturday.
When Medicare begins covering drugs in January, older Americans will spend less of their own money on drugs and will therefore have more to spend on food, reducing their need for food stamps, officials said.
A new federal policy will make it significantly more difficult for Medicare beneficiaries to obtain hearings in person before a judge when the government denies their claims for home care, nursing home services, prescription drugs and other treatments.
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By ROBERT PEAR
New York Times, Published: April 24, 2005
Posted by lifedoneright 
Posted by lifedoneright 
Posted by lifedoneright 