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Article: State's Rx for Medicare gaps: some states have made long-term commitments to help their low-income citizens pay their out-of-pocket costs for Medicare Part D. For some it was a matter of life or death.
- Article from:
- State Legislatures
- Article date:
- March 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 National Conference of State Legislatures. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In January, elderly and disabled Americans, many on medications for numerous diseases, were being overcharged or turned away without their pills while pharmacies struggled to get the information they needed to help them.
Some states took emergency action in those first weeks, making sure their citizens weren't falling through the cracks in the ambitious new federal prescription drug program that may eventually cover some 42 million people.
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Vermont were ready in a matter of days, announcing plans to guarantee pharmacists that they would get paid for drugs that should have been provided ...