Creating dual points of entry.(Brief Article)

Employers and labor relations groups have urged the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to move quickly in finalizing a new set of regulations affecting retiree prescription drug plans under the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA). Many of the groups suggested that CMS needed ......

HEADNOTE Little attention has been devoted in policy circles as to how Medicare would manage an outpatient prescription drug benefit. This article, first, discusses the role of the pharmacy benefits manager (PBM), the entity that processes claims and otherwise helps administer the benefit. It then discusses the major decisions that ......

The new discount card can help Medicare beneficiaries reduce their drug costs by as much as 40%.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The Pharmacy Care Alliance, a partnership between Express Scripts Inc. and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, on Thursday announced that its prescription drug discount card was approved by Medicare.

Community mental-health agencies across the United States have spent an estimated $304 million of their operating funds to help people with mental illnesses access the Medicare prescription-drug benefit, according to a survey conducted by the national association that represents the agencies.

INTRODUCTION Almost one-half of current Medicare enrollees have no third-party insurance for prescription drug coverage. Data from the 1992 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) show that 37 percent of non-institutionalized enrollees had drug coverage through private insurance, and another 14 percent were covered through public programs (Table 1). Third-party coverage ......

The concept is simple: providing our country's frail and disabled citizens with needed prescription drug coverage: After much debate about the specifics; Congress created a prescription drug benefit for Medicare beneficiaries--"Part D"--that begins on JanUary 1, 2006 (Congress also created temporary Medicare discount drug cards that will be phased out ......

Senators get a letter ......

The non-profit National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) offers the self-employed a number of potentially useful resources. Depending on the level of membership you choose, you can enjoy quite a range of services. I have not used them personally, but the site looks very interesting. They say: "The NASE was ......