Practical help for Part D Beneficiaries

Some Medicare Part D beneficiaries are leaving their pharmacies without their prescriptions due to confusion, misinformation, system error and overload following the January 1 start date. Here are 4 new resources that can help beneficiaries, their helpers, and their pharmacists have a better understanding of what to expect, how to avoid problems, and where to go for help if problems occur.

• MassHealth "Pharmacy Facts" (PDF) - Jan. 9 newsletter to pharmacists explaining steps Massachusetts pharmacists should take to ensure that no person enrolled in both Medicare and MassHealth will leave a pharmacy without their medications.
• Trouble-shooting Medicare Part D for MassHealth and Prescription Advantage Recipients (PDF, 250 KB) - Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and Medicare Advocacy Project. Easy-to-understand information about what to expect when you go to the pharmacy, how to cope if something goes wrong, and where to get help.
• Steps to Resolve Individual Case Problems (PDF) - information from Dr. Charlotte Yeh, Regional CMS Administrator, for those helping beneficiaries about who to call under which circumstances, what information can be emailed and what must be faxed.
• My Medicare drug plan won't cover my drug. What can I do? (PDF) - Medicare Advocacy Project. Straightforward advice about how to protect beneficiary rights and solve the problem.