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30 Million Medicare Beneficiaries Now Receiving Prescription Drug Coverage

Posted on: Thursday, 20 April 2006, 12:00 CDT

WASHINGTON, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Medicare announced today that more than 30 million Medicare beneficiaries are receiving prescription drug coverage, including more than 8 million beneficiaries who have gotten new, individual prescription drug coverage since the program began. More than 93 million prescriptions were filled for these beneficiaries with drug coverage during March -- averaging 3 million prescriptions filled per day.

In addition, 5.8 million people with Medicare get drug coverage from the Veterans Administration and other sources with prescription drug coverage equal to Medicare -- bringing the total to approximately 35.8 million Medicare beneficiaries who are now receiving prescription drug coverage.

"With a month to go, we've passed our projections of 28 to 30 million enrollees in the first year, and we are intensifying our local outreach efforts to get more seniors signed up before the May 15th deadline," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said. "These strong enrollment numbers are a tribute to everyone in the national network of caring -- all of our partners, community leaders, the State Health Insurance Programs (SHIPS), and family members, who have provided counseling and assistance to the millions of beneficiaries who are now taking advantage of this new benefit and saving money."

"Signing up is as easy as three simple steps," Leavitt said. "One: Get your prescriptions together. Two: Get your Medicare card. Three: Call 1-800-MEDICARE or go online at http://www.medicare.gov/."

More than 8 million people with Medicare now are enrolled in stand-alone prescription drug plans, an increase of 1.7 million in the last four weeks. Close to 1 million people have enrolled in Medicare Advantage health plans, with prescription drug coverage. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reports that nearly all of the beneficiaries who have enrolled have chosen a plan that has no deductible, low premium or provides some kind of coverage in the coverage gap.

"The May 15th deadline is fast approaching. We urge everyone who has not signed up to act now to avoid a last minute rush," said CMS Administrator Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. "There are plenty of ways to get help. Call 1-800-MEDICARE or attend one of the many thousands of events we are conducting with our partners across the country before the May 15th deadline. Sign up now and start saving on your drugs. And if you don't need drugs now, by signing up you can get the lowest cost protection for the future."

CMS and its 10,000 grassroots partners are conducting more than 1,800 enrollment events across the country each week up until the May 15th enrollment deadline. Additionally, CMS has increased resources to keep the wait times down and beneficiary support up at 1-800-MEDICARE and http://www.medicare.gov/.

Overall prescription drug coverage figures as of April 18 are: * Stand-Alone Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs): 8.1 million people with Medicare have enrolled in stand-alone prescription drug plans. This total includes 1 million beneficiaries who had their enrollment facilitated by CMS. This subset of beneficiaries were either automatically approved for the low income subsidy or applied for the subsidy through the Social Security Administration or states, but had not selected a prescription drug plan on their own. * Medicare Advantage with Prescription Drugs (MA-PDs): Nearly 5.8 million beneficiaries receive coverage through Medicare Advantage plans with drug coverage (MA-PDs). More than 950,000 MA-PD beneficiaries have signed up on their own since the program began. * Medicare/Medicaid: About 5.8 million were automatically enrolled in prescription drug plans, plus about 500,000 enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans with prescription drug coverage. * Retiree Coverage: More than 6.8 million retirees are enrolled in the Medicare retiree subsidy. In addition, about 1.4 million retirees are in employer and union-sponsored coverage that incorporates Medicare group drug coverage. * Federal retiree coverage: 3.5 million -- TRICARE: There are 1.9 million beneficiaries with TRICARE retiree coverage. -- FEHB: There are 1.6 million beneficiaries with FEHB retiree coverage. This figure includes spouses with Medicare who are covered under a FEHB family policy by retirees who also have Medicare coverage. * Additional Sources of Prescription Drug Coverage for Medicare Beneficiaries: Approximately 5.8 million Medicare beneficiaries have alternative sources of "creditable" prescription drug coverage: -- Veterans Affairs (VA): There are an estimated 3.2 million beneficiaries with creditable drug coverage through the VA. -- Indian Health Service (IHS): There are an estimated 0.1 million beneficiaries with creditable drug coverage through the IHS. -- Active Workers with Medicare Secondary Payer: There are an estimated 2.0 million beneficiaries who are active workers with creditable drug coverage through an employer group health plan. -- Other Retiree Coverage: An estimated 500,000 retirees are continuing in coverage from a former employer that is not coordinated with Medicare drug coverage.

To view enrollment data online visit cms.hhs.gov/PrescriptionDrugCovGenIn/02_enrollmentdata.asp.

To enroll, visit http://www.medicare.gov/.

Tables with latest information are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2006pres/20060420.html.

Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

CONTACT: CMS Media Affairs, +1-202-690-6145

Web site: http://www.hhs.gov/http://www.medicare.gov/cms.hhs.gov/PrescriptionDrugCovGenIn/02_enrollmentdata.asp

Source: PRNewswire

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