New “Mini-Care” Drug Plan

WASHINGTON – Thousands of elderly patients are learning the hard way that it isn’t enough to check whether their medicines are covered under a new Medicare drug plan they have chosen.

Insurers are using a broad range of tools to get customers to take the cheaper drugs they want them to take, and failure to follow their instructions can be costly.

In many cases, a patient’s doctor has to get prior approval for a drug before the plan will cover it. In others, the plan will limit the quantity of a drug a patient can get.

Wealthier beneficiaries still have some additional protection from the specialty tiers because the government will pay 95 percent of drug costs after beneficiaries pay $3,600 in a particular year. Many beneficiaries taking expensive medication didn’t have that sort of protection before Jan. 1.

ticle, go to:Medicare Patients Find Drug Restrictions – Yahoo! News