| Releases & Statements
For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, January 11, 2006, 9:00 AM
Contact: Daniel Browne, Assistant Press Secretary
212-669-4026
Scott Gastel, Assistant Press Secretary
212-669-4813; 917-721-4022
In response to reports that Medicare
recipients across the city, state, and nation have been overcharged
for their prescription drugs and, in some cases, turned away from
pharmacies without receiving their prescriptions, Public Advocate
Betsy Gotbaum today urged Governor Pataki to take emergency action.
In a letter to Governor Pataki, Gotbaum called for an executive
order allowing the State to temporarily help people who are dually-eligible
for Medicare and Medicaid pay drug claims just as it would have
under the Medicaid system in place until December 31.
“The first week of the Bush
administration’s new prescription drug program has been
a mess,” Gotbaum said. “Insurers are denying claims
they should approve. Pharmacists are waiting on the phone for
hours to get the information they need to fill prescriptions.
And many Medicare recipients are either being over-charged or
turned away without their prescriptions. Finger-pointing won’t
help solve the problem, however. The State needs to act quickly
so that New Yorkers get the medication they need without undue
expense.”
Of the 1,124,612 Medicare recipients
in New York City, the 329,916 dually-eligible New Yorkers have
been hardest hit by problems in the first week of the Part D program.
Bush administration officials have consistently assured dually-eligible
people, who typically have chronic illnesses and high drug costs,
that they would not have to pay the standard $250 deductible and
their co-payments would not exceed $5 a prescription. But the
Medicare Rights Center has been inundated with complaints from
low-income New Yorkers who are in fact being forced to pay the
full deductible and make co-payments far higher than what they
were promised.
“Very sick, very poor, older
and disabled New Yorkers are calling our hotline desperate for
help because they are leaving drugstores empty handed,”
said Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center,
a consumer service group which provides a Medicare counseling
hotline for New Yorkers.
Prior to the introduction of the Part
D program, the State was responsible for helping dually-eligible
New Yorkers pay for prescription drug costs incurred under Medicaid.
In her letter to Governor Pataki, the Public Advocate recommends
that he issue an executive order to extend State coverage under
Medicaid. Under Gotbaum’s proposal, the executive order
would be contingent on the Bush administration taking measures
to ensure that the cost is deducted from payments owed to the
federal government for future obligations.
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, and Vermont have already
adopted similar measures to ensure that their elderly and impoverished
get the medication they need while the federal government fixes
problems in its new Medicare Part D program. Gotbaum indicated
that, should the Governor fail to act, she would support efforts
by the State Assembly Committee on Health to introduce legislation
ordering the extension.
“Low-income New Yorkers with
diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and other serious medical conditions
are counting on the State to provide a safety net,” Gotbaum
said. “We must act quickly on their behalf.”
“New York didn’t create
this mess, but we have the power to help people survive it,”
said Assembly Health Committee chair Richard N. Gottfried. “I
am introducing legislation in Albany to require the Pataki administration
to provide emergency assistance to senior citizens who are caught
up in this crisis. But the Governor could and should act right
now under existing State law.”
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