When the new Medicare drug plans went into effect first of the year, there was one program that was chopped. That program supplied free medication to the poor people. This of course made it so that the poor was now paying for drugs that they were one time receiving for free.

Interesting enough was last month when a little known article was published in the Salt Lake Tribune on March 24th which talked about the problems of the new Medicare program hitting Dixie and Anne Leavitt, the parents of Health and Human Services Secretary Mile Leavitt. The article is no longer available on the Salt Lake Tribue site but Drudge has a copy of it:

Dixie and Anne Leavitt – parents of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt – recently were forced to change Medicare plans after learning that the one they chose imperiled their retiree medical coverage.

… the blunder is sure to prove fodder for critics who have labeled the drug benefit “plagued” with problems, from computer failures to overcharging for prescriptions. Troubles have been most acute for millions of low-income seniors and disabled people who were automatically transferred from their state Medicaid plans into Medicare plans that didn’t cover their medications.

The latest complaint comes from drugstores that are filling Medicare prescriptions at a loss. Among those struggling most are independent neighborhood pharmacists, such as the Leavitt family’s, Evan Vickers.

Vickers owns and operates two Bullock’s drug stores in Cedar City, Leavitt’s hometown. Founded in the late 1800s, the shops have a loyal customer base.

But Vickers said he is suffering a cash-flow problem because Medicare plans take 25 to 40 days to reimburse for drugs, sometimes at lower rates than private insurers or Medicaid

Now that this problem has hit the parents of Leavitt, changes are occurring in the new Medicare program:

In a legal opinion that could help many thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, drug manufacturers were told Tuesday that they can continue giving free medicine to poor people even if they’re enrolled for the new drug benefit.

Each year, large drug companies routinely give millions of free prescriptions to the poor. However, most of the drug companies had said they would discontinue this practice for senior citizens now that they could get coverage through Medicare.

In particular, the drug companies had concerns that continuing to operate their patient assistance programs for Medicare beneficiaries would violate federal anti-kickback laws. Conceivably, they could use the programs to steer patients to a particular drug and reduce the patients’ incentive to locate and use less expensive drugs. Such steering could also raise the costs of the program for taxpayers and participants.

Health and Human Services Inspector General Dan Levinson clarified his position on Tuesday that “lawful avenues exist for pharmaceutical manufacturers to give assistance to financially needy patients, including Medicare beneficiaries.”

Amazing how once the problems hit the home front, they change their positions. Stories of seniors suffering have been widely reported since the program took effect the first of the year but it is apparent that these people just choose to ignore them.