Administration Notifies Medicare Enrollees to Drop Double Coverage

The Bush Administration on Monday notified hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries that they were listed on the rolls of two prescription drug plans and would soon be dropped from one, but will retain coverage under the other. The notices, sent on green paper, are designed to clear-up any confusion resulting from errors and discrepancies in the enrollment records of the new prescription drug program. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that each beneficiary is enrolled by May 1 in only one plan. CMS' Mark McClellan said more than one million people were enrolled in multiple plans-originally in one and then switched to another-but that all of these being notified will be "fully enrolled in the new plan" and will not see an interruption of benefits. In many cases beneficiaries continued to use the first plan for some or all of their prescriptions and pharmacies found that they could bill both plans for the same medication. Also, people on both plans may have been charged two premiums without realizing it. Many insurers and senior-advocate groups are criticizing such a mass disenrollment claiming it will be confusing to those receiving the government notices.