People who qualify for Medicare and Medicaid are supposed to be switched into a new plan automatically if they don't do it themselves.

10:59 AM EST on Sunday, November 27, 2005

BY RICARDO ALONSO-ZALVIDAR
Los Angeles Times

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.

"Because many of these persons need prescription medications to function or survive, the consequences of no longer receiving prescription-drug coverage will be calamitous," warned the 19-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Manhattan, by the Medicare Rights Center and seven other organizations.

The transfer of these beneficiaries to new coverage is one of the most delicate transitions under the complex prescription-drug benefit, the centerpiece of President Bush's Medicare overhaul.

The consumer groups want to force the government to develop stronger safeguards for the 6.4 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries who now get prescriptions through Medicaid and medical services through Medicare.

Called "dual eligibles" by the government, they are poor, and many are suffering from severe physical and mental disabilities.

Medicare spokesman Gary Karr declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said the agency was working on an additional layer of protections to prevent breaks in coverage.

"We are working on a new safety-net process, as a backstop," said Karr. "Somebody who has Medicare and Medicaid can go to the pharmacy and show proof and get his or her prescription filled."

The law that established the Medicare drug insurance program called for those poor and frail beneficiaries to enroll in a prescription-drug plan before Jan. 1, when their Medicaid prescription coverage is set to expire.

The government says that those "dual eligibles" who don't pick a Medicare drug plan on their own will be automatically enrolled in one.

But that, the consumer groups contend, is easier said than done.

"It is virtually certain that on Jan. 1, 2006, some . . . dual eligibles will not be receiving prescription-drug coverage" under Medicare, the lawsuit from the consumer groups says. "There is no way to know with certainty how many . . . will fall through the cracks this way. However, even if the [current] enrollment process captures 97 percent of all dual eligibles, more than 180,000 will not be enrolled."

As a precaution, the groups want a federal court to order the government to maintain temporary Medicaid prescription coverage for any beneficiary who runs into problems with the new Medicare benefit.

"We want to ensure that a safety net is in place for the neediest Americans, who are at risk of losing their access to medicines," said Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, a nonprofit independent information resource on Medicare issues.

"Errors by the system are inevitable," Hayes said.

But federal and state policymakers are reluctant to incur the extra costs that would entail.

In California -- home to more "dual eligibles" than any other state -- senior and disabled beneficiaries making the transition have been advised to get a 100-day supply of prescriptions before the end of the year, in case they encounter any problems.

Although the transition for the poorest and frailest beneficiaries is supposed to be completed by Jan. 1, open enrollment for most other seniors runs through May 15.