Advice for Medicaid Beneficiaries on Making the Leap to the Medicare Drug Plan

This New Year may bring more confusion than joy to the more than six million beneficiaries with both Medicare and Medicaid ('dual eligibles') who will lose their Medicaid prescription drug coverage and be switched to Medicare's Part D coverage on January 1, 2006.

Although the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced contingency plans for those who fall through the cracks and gave assurances that the transition will go smoothly, dually eligible beneficiaries, their caretakers, and advocates are concerned that many will not be able to get the drugs they need this January.

The Center for Medicare Advocacy suggests several questions dual eligibles should ask, and several steps they can take, in order to ensure the smoothest transition possible. For the Center's advice, click on: http://www.medicareadvocacy.org/PartD_DualEligiblesAfter010106.htm

For more on the Medicare drug benefit, click here.