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1/11/2006
New
drug benefit confuses, frustrates
When
Ina Storer called her pharmacy to fill 3 of her 25 prescriptions last week,
she was told that only one of the drugs was covered, and she'd have to pay $35
for it. Disabled and destitute, Storer couldn't afford that -- and she broke
down in...
Survey:
How hard has the new Medicare Part D change been on you?
Making sense of Medicare Part D
NORTH PROVIDENCE -- Thomas C. Pezza was one of the exasperated retirees in the big meeting room at the Salvatore Mancini Resource & Activity Center.
12/19/2005
MoneyLine by Neil Downing: Medicare Part B coverage can be a duplicate
This is the second installment in a two-part MoneyLine series about enrolling in Medicare Part B. The first installment appeared yesterday.
12/18/2005
MoneyLine by Neil Downing: Medicare Part B has tricky rules
This is the first installment in a two-part MoneyLine series about enrolling in Medicare Part B. The second installment appears tomorrow.
11/29/2005
Medicare guidance now online
Doctors,
pharmacists and other health-care providers who are trying to help
their patients navigate the Medicare Part D drug benefit can find new
guidance at the state Health Department's Web site.
11/28/2005
Finding help
Deborah
St. Peter and her husband, John Heathcote, are trying to help their
elderly relatives navigate the federal government's complex new
prescription-drug plan.
2 HMOs offer a different approach to Part D
Among
all the bewildering choices for Medicare drug coverage, there are two
plans that may prove especially popular among Rhode Islanders: BlueCHiP
for Medicare, from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island; and
Medicare Complete, from...
More questions, more answers about drug plans
Throughout
Rhode Island, Medicare beneficiaries are struggling to make sense of
the new drug benefit that will be available to them starting Jan. 1.
Subsidy available for those in need
For
four decades, Congress scrupulously kept Medicare free of any "means
test." Millionaire or mill worker, it didn't matter. Medicare was a
public insurance plan, so everyone paid the same premiums, the same
deductibles and the same copayments.
Suit seeks to prevent lapse in coverage for 'dual eligibles'
WASHINGTON
-- Computer glitches involving the new Medicare drug benefit could
leave thousands of frail, impoverished seniors without
prescription-drug coverage on Jan. 1, a coalition of consumer groups
alleged in a lawsuit against the government, filed this month.
11/22/2005
MoneyLine by Neil Downing: Consider Medigap drug choices
You're trying to help your parents decide whether to pick one of the new prescription drug plans under Medicare. But what if your parents also have a Medigap plan -- how does that fit in?
11/16/2005
Medicare answers, please
WARWICK
-- Hundreds of elderly people rushed to the Warwick Mall yesterday
for counseling on the federal government's complex new prescription
drug plan on the first day of enrollment.
11/13/2005
Medicare's drug benefit is driving seniors a little crazy
PROVIDENCE -- They paced and slumped in various stages of confusion. They stared slackjawed at the documents before them.
Medicare information workshops scheduled
The
Medicare Access Network of Rhode Island will hold an information and
enrollment event for the prescription-drug plan Tuesday from 8:30 a.m.
to 2 p.m. at the Warwick Mall.
How do you choose a plan?
There's
one question that people ask more often than any other whenever Larry
Grimaldi, of the state Department of Elderly Affairs, addresses
Medicare beneficiaries about the new drug benefit.
10/30/2005
MoneyLine by Neil Downing: Husband, wife can have different drug plans
Q: [On the new Medicare prescription drug program], is it necessary that my wife join the same plan that I do?
Medicare change to require choice among drug plans
More
than 170,000 Medicare recipients in Rhode Island -- and 41 million
nationwide -- must decide whether to join in a new federal prescription
drug coverage program, known as Medicare Part D.
Medicare drug plan workshops offered
The
Department of Elderly Affairs is holding a series of public workshops
to inform Medicare recipients about the prescription drug program,
known as Plan D. In Rhode Island, 18 companies are offering 44 plans.
10/25/2005
MoneyLine by Neil Downing: No penalty to change drug plans
When
it comes to picking a plan under Medicare's new prescription drug
program, some beneficiaries have a strategy in mind: sign up for a
bare-bones plan now, just in case, then switch to a more comprehensive
plan later if you need to.
10/11/2005
MoneyLine
by Neil Downing: Choice is yours, but most options will save money
If you're retired, and planning ahead for the new year, here's something to keep in mind.
9/28/2005
Help
is near on drug plan choices
PAWTUCKET -- It's not often, said federal health official Brian M. Cresta, that
Medicare beneficiaries face a choice. Seldom have the words "Medicare"
and "choice" even appeared in the same sentence, said Cresta, the
New England regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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