Long-Term Care

GAO: Dual-eligible Part D beneficiaries not reimbursed

Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly, May 10, 2007

When Medicare Part D took effect in January 2006, more than 6.1 million "dual eligibles" had their drug payments moved from Medicaid to Medicare. In the process, Medicare paid millions to participating prescription drug plans. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), many of those plans have not reimbursed those dual eligible beneficiaries, who had to initially pay for drugs out-of-pocket while their eligibility status was sorted out by pharmacies.

The GAO stated CMS has done a "poor job" of monitoring this reimbursement. It also alleged that CMS did not alert dual-eligibles of their right to reimbursement until two months ago, the report stated. Access the full GAO report at www.gao.gov/new.items/d07824t.pdf.

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