Medicare Part D, also called the Medicare prescription drug benefit, is an optional United States federal-government program to help Medicare beneficiaries pay for self-administered
prescription drug
A prescription drug (also prescription medication, prescription medicine or prescription-only medication) is a pharmaceutical drug that is permitted to be dispensed only to those with a medical prescription. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs c ...
s. Part D was enacted as part of the
Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 and went into effect on January 1, 2006. Under the program, drug benefits are provided by private insurance plans that receive premiums from both enrollees and the government. Part D plans typically pay most of the cost for prescriptions filled by their enrollees.
However, plans are later reimbursed for much of this cost through rebates paid by
manufacturers and
pharmacies
Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...
.
Part D enrollees cover a portion of their own drug expenses by paying
cost-sharing. The amount of cost-sharing an enrollee pays depends on the retail cost of the filled drug, the rules of their plan, and whether they are eligible for additional Federal income-based subsidies. Prior to 2010, enrollees were required to pay 100% of their retail drug costs during the
coverage gap phase, commonly referred to as the "doughnut hole.” Subsequent legislation, including the
Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
, “closed” the doughnut hole from the perspective of beneficiaries, largely through the creation of a manufacturer discount program.
In 2019, about three-quarters of Medicare enrollees obtained drug coverage through Part D.
Program expenditures were $102 billion, which accounted for 12% of Medicare spending. Through the Part D program, Medicare finances more than one-third of retail prescription drug spending in the United States.
Program specifics
Eligibility and enrollment
To enroll in Part D, Medicare beneficiaries must also be enrolled in either
Part A or
Part B. Beneficiaries can participate in Part D through a stand-alone prescription drug plan or through a
Medicare Advantage plan that includes prescription drug benefits.
["Medicare: A Primer,"](_blank)
Kaiser Family Foundation
KFF, which was formerly known as The Kaiser Family Foundation or The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, is an American non-profit organization, non-profit organization, headquartered in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. It prefers KFF, w ...
, April 2010. Beneficiaries can enroll directly through the plan's sponsor or through an intermediary. Medicare beneficiaries who delay enrollment into Part D may be required to pay a late-enrollment penalty. In 2019, 47 million beneficiaries were enrolled in Part D, which represents three-quarters of Medicare beneficiaries.
Plans offered
Part D benefits are provided through private plans approved by the federal government. The number of offered plans varies geographically, but a typical enrollee will have dozens of options to choose from. Although plans are restricted by numerous program requirements, plans vary in many ways. Among other factors, enrollees often compare premiums,
covered drugs, and cost-sharing policies when selecting a plan.
Medicare offers an interactive online tool that allows for comparison of coverage and costs for all plans in a geographic area. The tool lets users input their own list of medications and then calculates personalized projections of the enrollee's annual costs under each plan option. Plans are required to submit biweekly data updates that Medicare uses to keep this tool updated throughout the year.
Costs to beneficiaries
Beneficiary cost sharing

Part D includes a statutorily defined "standard benefit" that is updated on an annual basis. All Part D sponsors must offer a plan that follows the standard benefit. The standard benefit is defined in terms of the benefit structure and without mandating the drugs that must be covered. For example, under the 2020 standard benefit, beneficiaries first pay a 100% coinsurance amount up to a $435 deductible. Second, beneficiaries pay a 25% coinsurance amount up to an Out-of-Pocket Threshold of $6,350. In the final benefit phase, beneficiaries pay the greater of a 5% coinsurance amount or a nominal co-payment amount. These three benefit phases are referred to as the Deductible, Initial Coverage Limit, and the Catastrophic phase.
The "Out-of-Pocket Threshold" is not a cap on out-of-pocket spending, as beneficiaries continue to accrue cost-sharing expenses in the Catastrophic phase. In 2020, beneficiaries would typically reach this threshold as their retail drug spending approached $10,000. When patients enter the Catastrophic phase, the amount they have paid in cost-sharing is typically much less than the Out-of-Pocket Threshold. This is because the standard benefit requires plans to include additional amounts, such as manufacturer discounts, when determining if the Out-of-Pocket Threshold has been met.
Part D sponsors may also offer plans that differ from the standard benefit, provided that these alternative benefit structures do not result in higher average cost-sharing. In practice, most enrollees do not elect for standard benefit plans, instead opting for plans without deductibles and with tiered drug co-payments rather than coinsurance.
Enrollees must pay an additional premium amount to be enrolled in a plan with cost-sharing that is lower than the standard benefit, and this additional amount is not Federally-subsidized.
Prior to 2010, the standard benefit included a Coverage Gap phase in which, after accruing significant spending, relatively-high cost enrollees were required to pay a 100% coinsurance amount until they entered the Catastrophic phase. This Coverage Gap phase is commonly referred to as "the Donut Hole." Beginning with the
Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
, cost-sharing in the Coverage Gap phase has been gradually reduced. Despite no longer triggering elevated cost-sharing, the Coverage Gap phase continues to exist for other administrative purposes.
Beneficiary premiums
In 2020, the average monthly Part D
premium across all plans was $27.
[''A Data Book: Health Care Spending and the Medicare Program''(PDF)](_blank)
. Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. 2020. p. 155. Premiums for stand-alone PDPs are 3 times higher than premiums for MA-PDs, as Medicare Advantage plans often use federal rebates to reduce premiums for drug coverage. Enrollees typically pay their premiums directly to plans, though they may opt to have their premiums automatically deducted from their Social Security checks.
Plans offer competitive premiums to attract enrollees. Premiums must cover the cost of both plan liability and the reinsurance subsidy. From 2017 to 2020, despite rising per capita drug spending, premiums decreased by 16%.
Plans have been able to lower premiums by negotiating larger rebates from manufacturers and pharmacies. Between 2017 and 2020, the percentage of drug costs rebated back to plans increased from 22% to 28%.
[''2020 Medicare Trustees Report'' (PDF)](_blank)
. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 2020. p. 142. In addition, the standard benefit was changed in 2019 to increase mandatory manufacturer discounts in the Coverage Gap.
Part D practices
community rating, with all enrollees in a plan being assigned the same premium. Enrollees do pay more in premiums if they enroll in higher-than-average-cost plans or in plans that offer enhanced benefits. Like in Part B, higher-income enrollees are required to pay an additional premium amount. Low-income enrollees may have their premium reduced or eliminated if they qualify for the low-income premium subsidy.
For 2022, costs for stand-alone Part D plans in the 10 major U.S. markets ranged from a low of $6.90-per-month (Dallas and Houston) to as much as $160.20-per-month (San Francisco). A study by the American Association for Medicare Supplement Insurance reported the lowest and highest 2022 Medicare Plan D costs for the top-10 markets.
Retiree drug subsidy (RDS)
Retiree Drug Subsidy (RDS) is a program that provides financial assistance to employers who offer prescription drug coverage to their retirees. The subsidy is a feature of Medicare Part D, designed to help retirees access affordable prescription medications.
Low-income subsidies
Beneficiaries with income below 150% of the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
are eligible for the low-income subsidy, which helps pay for premiums and cost-sharing. Depending on income-level and assets, some beneficiaries qualify for the full low-income subsidy, while others are eligible for a partial subsidy. All low-income subsidy enrollees still pay small copayment amounts.
Low-income enrollees tend to have more chronic conditions than other enrollees. Low-income subsidy enrollees represent about one-quarter of enrollment, but about half of the program's retail drug spending.
Nearly 30% of Federal spending on Part D goes towards paying for the low-income subsidy.
In addition to receiving premium and cost-sharing subsidies, certain program rules apply differently for low-income subsidy enrollees. Beneficiaries of the low-income subsidy are exempt from the Coverage Gap Manufacturer Discount Program. Low-income subsidy enrollees are also allowed to change plans more frequently than other enrollees.
Excluded drugs
While
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is a federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer M ...
(CMS) does not have an established formulary, Part D drug coverage excludes drugs not approved by the
Food and Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...
, drugs not available by prescription for purchase in the United States, and drugs for which payments would be available under Part B.
Part D coverage excludes drugs or classes of drugs that may be excluded from
Medicaid
Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...
coverage. These may include:
* Drugs used for
anorexia,
weight loss
Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health, or physical fitness, refers to a reduction of the total body mass, by a mean loss of fluid, body fat (adipose tissue), or lean mass (namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon, and other conn ...
, or
weight gain
* Drugs used to promote
fertility
Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate ...
* Drugs used for
erectile dysfunction
Erectile dysfunction (ED), also referred to as impotence, is a form of sexual dysfunction in males characterized by the persistent or recurring inability to achieve or maintain a Human penis, penile erection with sufficient rigidity and durat ...
* Drugs used for cosmetic purposes (hair growth, etc.)
* Drugs used for the symptomatic relief of cough and colds
* Prescription vitamin and mineral products, except
prenatal vitamins and fluoride preparations
* Drugs where the manufacturer requires as a condition of sale any associated tests or monitoring services to be purchased exclusively from that manufacturer or its designee
While these drugs are excluded from basic Part D coverage, drug plans can include them as a supplemental benefit, provided they otherwise meet the definition of a Part D drug. However plans that cover excluded drugs are not allowed to pass on those costs to Medicare, and plans are required to repay CMS if they are found to have billed Medicare in these cases.
Plan formularies
Part D plans are not required to pay for all covered Part D drugs. They establish their own formularies, or list of covered drugs for which they will make payment, as long as the formulary and benefit structure are not found by CMS to discourage enrollment by certain Medicare beneficiaries. Part D plans that follow the formulary classes and categories established by the United States
Pharmacopoeia
A pharmacopoeia, pharmacopeia, or pharmacopoea (or the typographically obsolete rendering, ''pharmacopœia''), meaning "drug-making", in its modern technical sense, is a reference work containing directions for the identification of compound med ...
will pass the first discrimination test. Plans can change the drugs on their formulary during the course of the year with 60 days' notice to affected parties.
The primary differences between the formularies of different Part D plans relate to the coverage of brand-name drugs. Typically, each Plan's formulary is organized into tiers, and each tier is associated with a set co-pay amount. Most formularies have between 3 and 5 tiers. The lower the tier, the lower the co-pay. For example, Tier 1 might include all of the Plan's preferred generic drugs, and each drug within this tier might have a co-pay of $5 to $10 per prescription. Tier 2 might include the Plan's preferred brand drugs with a co-pay of $40 to $50, while Tier 3 may be reserved for non-preferred brand drugs which are covered by the plan at a higher co-pay, perhaps $70 to $100. Tiers 4 and higher typically contain
specialty drugs, which have the highest co-pays because they are generally more expensive. By 2011 in the United States a growing number of Medicare Part D health insurance plans had added the
specialty tier.
History
Upon enactment in 1965, Medicare included coverage for physician-administered drugs, but not self-administered prescription drugs. While some earlier drafts of the Medicare legislation included an outpatient drug benefit, those provisions were dropped due to budgetary concerns. In response to criticism regarding this omission,
President Lyndon Johnson ordered the formation of the
Task Force on Prescription Drugs.
The Task Force conducted a comprehensive review of the American prescription drug market and reported that many elderly Americans struggled to afford their medications.
Despite the findings and recommendations of the Task Force, initial efforts to create a Medicare outpatient drug benefit were unsuccessful. In 1988, the
Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act temporarily expanded program benefits to include self-administered drugs. However, this legislation was repealed just one year later, partially due to concerns regarding premium increases. The
1993 Clinton Health Reform Plan also included an outpatient drug benefit, but that reform effort ultimately failed due to a lack of public support.
In the decades following Medicare's passage, prescription drug spending grew and became increasingly financed through third-party payment. Following an era of modest growth, per capita drug spending began growing rapidly in the 1980s.
This growth was partially spurred by the launch of many billion dollar “blockbuster drugs” like
Lipitor,
Celebrex, and
Zoloft. At the time of Medicare's passage, more than 90% of drug spending was paid out-of-pocket.
Over the following 35-years, third-party payment for prescription drugs became increasingly common. By the end of the century, less than one-third of drug spending was paid out-of-pocket. Despite the absence of a Medicare drug benefit, about 70% of Medicare enrollees obtained drug coverage through other means, often through an employer or
Medicaid
Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...
.
Medicare began offering subsidized outpatient drug coverage in the mid-2000s. In the 2000 presidential election, both the
Democratic and
Republican candidates campaigned on the promise of using the projected federal budget surplus to fund a new Medicare drug entitlement program. Following his electoral victory,
President George W. Bush promoted a general vision of using private health plans to provide drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries.
Rather than demand that the plan be budget neutral, President Bush supported up to $400 billion in new spending for the program. In 2003, President Bush signed the
Medicare Modernization Act, which authorized the creation of the Medicare Part D program. The program was implemented in 2006.
To keep the plan's cost projections below the $400 billion constraint set by leadership, policymakers devised the infamous “
donut hole.” After exceeding a modest
deductible
In an insurance policy, the deductible (in British English, the excess) is the amount paid
Out-of-pocket expenses, out of pocket by the policy holder before an insurance provider will pay any expenses. In general usage, the term ''deductible'' m ...
, beneficiaries would pay 25% cost-sharing for covered drugs.
However, once their spending reached an “initial coverage limit,” originally set at $2,250, their cost-sharing would return to 100% of the drug's cost. This loss in coverage would continue until the patient surpassed an out-of-pocket threshold Beneficiaries were often confused by this complicated design, and research consistently found that this coverage gap reduced
medication adherence. The
Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
and subsequent legislation phased-out the coverage gap from the perspective of beneficiaries. As of 2020, beneficiary cost-sharing on covered drugs never exceeds 25% of the drug's cost after an enrollee meets their deductible.
Program costs
In 2019, total drug spending for Medicare Part D beneficiaries was about $180 billion. One-third of this amount, about $120 billion, was paid by prescription drug plans. This plan liability amount was partially offset by about $50 billion in discounts, mostly in the form of manufacturer and pharmacy rebates.
This implied a net plan liability (i.e. net of discounts) of roughly $70 billion. To finance this cost, plans received roughly $50 billion in federal reinsurance subsidies, $10 billion in federal direct subsidies, and $10 billion in enrollee premiums.
[''2020 Medicare Trustees Report'' (PDF)](_blank)
. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 2020. p. 145.
In addition to the $60 billion paid in federal insurance subsidies, the federal government also paid about $30 billion in cost-sharing subsidies for low-income enrollees.
The federal government also collected roughly 20 billion in offsetting receipts. These offsets included both state payments made on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries who also qualify for full Medicaid benefits and additional premiums paid by high-income enrollees. After accounting for these offsets, the net federal cost of Part D was about $70 billion.
Implementation issues
* Plan and Health Care Provider goal alignment: PDP's and MA's are rewarded for focusing on low-cost drugs to all beneficiaries, while providers are rewarded for quality of care – sometimes involving expensive technologies.
* Conflicting goals: Plans are required to have a tiered exemptions process for beneficiaries to get a higher-tier drug at a lower cost, but plans must grant medically necessary exceptions. However, the rule denies beneficiaries the right to request a tiering exception for certain high-cost drugs.
* Lack of standardization: Because each plan can design their formulary and tier levels, drugs appearing on Tier 2 in one plan may be on Tier 3 in another plan. Co-pays may vary across plans. Some plans have no deductibles and the coinsurance for the most expensive drugs varies widely. Some plans may insist on step therapy, which means that the patient must use generics first before the company will pay for higher-priced drugs. Patients can appeal and insurers are required to respond within a short timeframe, so as to not further the burden on the patient.
* Standards for
electronic prescribing for Medicare Part D conflict with regulations in many U.S. states.
Impact on beneficiaries
A 2008 study found that the percentage of Medicare beneficiaries who reported forgoing medications due to cost dropped with Part D, from 15.2% in 2004 and 14.1% in 2005 to 11.5% in 2006. The percentage who reported skipping other basic necessities to pay for drugs also dropped, from 10.6% in 2004 and 11.1% in 2005 to 7.6% in 2006. The very sickest beneficiaries reported no reduction, but fewer reported forgoing other necessities to pay for medicine.
A parallel study found that Part D beneficiaries skip doses or switch to cheaper drugs and that many do not understand the program.
Another study found that Part D resulted in modest increases in average drug utilization and decreases in average out-of-pocket expenditures. Further studies by the same group of researchers found that the net impact among beneficiaries was a decrease in the use of generic drugs.
A further study concludes that although a substantial reduction in out-of-pocket costs and a moderate increase in utilization among Medicare beneficiaries during the first year after Part D, there was no evidence of improvement in emergency department use, hospitalizations, or preference-based health utility for those eligible for Part D during its first year of implementation.
It was also found that there were no significant changes in trends in the dual eligibles' out-of-pocket expenditures, total monthly expenditures, pill-days, or total number of prescriptions due to Part D.
A 2020 study found that Medicare Part D led to a sharp reduction in the number of people over the age of 65 who worked full-time. The authors say that this is evidence that before the change, people avoided retiring in order to maintain employer-based health insurance.
Criticisms
The federal government is not permitted to negotiate Part D drug prices with drug companies, as federal agencies do in other programs. Numerous critics view this as a mismanagement of taxpayer funds, whereas proponents contend that allowing price negotiation might inhibit innovation by reducing profits for pharmaceutical companies. The
Department of Veterans Affairs, which is allowed to negotiate drug prices and establish a formulary, has been estimated to pay between 40%
and 58%
less for drugs, on average, than Part D. On the other hand, the VA only covers about half the brands that a typical Part D plan covers.
Part of the issue is that Medicare does not pay for Part D drugs, and so has no actual leverage. Part D drug providers are using the private insurer leverage, which is generally a larger block of consumers than the 40 million or so actually using Medicare parts A and B for medical care.
Estimating how much money could be saved if Medicare had been allowed to negotiate drug prices, economist
Dean Baker gives a "most conservative high-cost scenario" of $332 billion between 2006 and 2013 (approximately $50 billion a year). Economist
Joseph Stiglitz in his book entitled ''
The Price of Inequality'' estimated a "middle-cost scenario" of $563 billion in savings "for the same budget window".
Former Congressman
Billy Tauzin, R–La., who steered the bill through the House, retired soon after and took a $2 million a year job as president of
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA, pronounced ), formerly known as the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, is an American trade group representing companies in the pharmaceutical industry. Founded in 1958, PhRMA ...
(PhRMA), the main industry
lobbying
Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...
group. Medicare boss
Thomas Scully, who threatened to fire Medicare Chief Actuary Richard Foster if he reported how much the bill would actually cost, was negotiating for a new job as a pharmaceutical lobbyist as the bill was working through Congress. 14 congressional aides quit their jobs to work for related lobbies immediately after the bill's passage.
In response, free-market
think tank
A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
Manhattan Institute issued a report by professor Frank Lichtenberg that said the VA National Formulary excludes many new drugs. Only 38% of drugs approved in the 1990s and 19% of the drugs approved since 2000 were on the formulary.
In 2012, the plan required Medicare beneficiaries whose total drug costs reach $2,930 to pay 100% of prescription costs until $4,700 is spent out of pocket. (The actual threshold amounts change year-to-year and plan-by-plan, and many plans offered limited coverage during this phase.) While this coverage gap does not affect the majority of program participants, about 25% of beneficiaries enrolled in standard plans find themselves in this gap.
[Zhang Y, Donohue JM, Newhouse JP, Lave JR]
The effects of the coverage gap on drug spending: a closer look at Medicare Part D
. Health Affairs. 2009 Mar-Apr;28(2):w317-25.
As a candidate,
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
proposed "closing the 'doughnut hole'" and subsequently proposed a plan to reduce costs for recipients from 100% to 50% of these expenses.
The cost of the plan would be borne by drug manufacturers for name-brand drugs and by the government for generics.
See also
*
Health
Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...
*
Health economics
Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to Health care efficiency, efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and healthcare. Health economics is important in dete ...
*
Health insurance in the United States
*
Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act
*
National pharmaceuticals policy
*
Pharmaceutical company
*
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur betwee ...
*
Prescription drug prices in the United States
*
Prescription costs
Medication costs, also known as drug costs are a common health care cost for many people and health care systems. Prescription costs are the costs to the end consumer. Medication costs are influenced by multiple factors such as patents, stakeholde ...
Notes
References
Cost and Utilization of Outpatient Prescription Drugs Among the Elderly: Implications for a Medicare Benefit, 2003, Nashville, TennManaged Care ProgramsThe American Journal of Managed Care* Zhang J, Yin W, Sun S, Alexander GC
Impact of Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit on the use of generic drugsJournal of Internal Medicine. 2008;23:1673-1678.
* Yin W, Basu A, Zhang J, Rabbani A, Meltzer DO, Alexander GC
Impact of the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Benefit on drug utilization and out-of-pocket expenditures Annals of Internal Medicine. 2008;148:169-177.
*
*
*
Further reading
2019
*
2007
"The Big Drug Scam" by Rich Lowry, ''National Review Online'', January 16, 2007.
2006
"A Recipe for Cynicism" by Jonah Goldberg, ''National Review Online'', November 29, 2006.
by Lori Montgomery and Christopher Lee, ''Washington Post'', November 26, 2006.
"Medicare Part D Gets a Bipartisan F" by Jerry Mazza, ''Online Journal'', February 3, 2006.
"Part D From Outer Space", by Trudy Lieberman, ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...
'', January 30, 2006.
The States Step In As Medicare Falters; Seniors Being Turned Away, Overcharged Under New Prescription Drug Program by Ceci Connolly, ''Washington Post'', Saturday, January 14, 2006.
, PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, January 16, 2006.
2004
by Michael Johns, ''Orthopedic Technology Review'', January 2004.
External links
;Government resources
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
Medicare.gov the official website for people with Medicare.
*
Prescription Drug Coverage homepageat Medicare.gov, a central location for Medicare's web-based information about the Part D benefit.
**
"Landscape of Plans" at Medicare.gov, state-by-state breakdown of all Part D plans available by area, including stand-alone (drug coverage only) plans and other coverage plans.
**
State Pharmaceutical Assistance Programsat Medicare.gov, links to contact information for each state's SPAP program.
**
Enroll in a Medicare Prescription Drug Planat Medicare.gov, the web-based tool for enrolling online in a Part D plan.
*
Official Medicare publicationsat Medicare.gov, includes official publications about the Part D benefit.
**
Medicare & You handbookfor 2006 at Medicare.gov, includes information about the Part D benefit.
*
Information about the 1-800-MEDICARE helplinefrom Medicare.gov, a 24X7
toll-free number where anyone can call with questions about the Part D benefit.
;Other resources
"Medicare Part D Briefing Room" from the
American Society of Consultant Pharmacists.
"Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Weekly Q&A Column" from the
Kaiser Family Foundation
KFF, which was formerly known as The Kaiser Family Foundation or The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, is an American non-profit organization, non-profit organization, headquartered in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. It prefers KFF, w ...
.
"My Medicare Matters" sponsored by the
National Council on Aging.
"Medicare Part D Health Issues" from the
National Senior Citizens Law Center
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
.
"Bob Dole On Medicare"- Enrollment/education campaign by former Senator
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Party leaders of the United States Senate, Republican Leader of th ...
and
Pfizer
Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered at The Spiral (New York City), The Spiral in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 184 ...
.
Spending Patterns for Prescription Drugs under Medicare Part DCongressional Budget Office
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the United States Congress, legislative branch of the United States government that provides budget and economic information to Congress.
I ...
"Press Gaggle"with
Scott McClellan and Dr.
Mark McClellan that includes discussion on Medicare prescription drug benefit, August 29, 2005.
{{Presidency of George W. Bush
2003 in American law
Part D
Pharmaceuticals policy