US to help reimburse states for Medicare drugs
Posted on: Tuesday, 24 January 2006, 14:48 CST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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 on 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 plans will reimburse ... 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 February 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 the benefit began January 1.
Most of those affected have been those also enrolled in Medicaid, which covers the poor.
About half of the U.S. 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.
Source: REUTERS
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