WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Snags in the new U.S. Medicare drug plan that launched last week prompted at least four states to make emergency interventions.
Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Vermont all took measures to ensure low-income Medicare beneficiaries received the drugs they were promised but could not obtain through the federal Medicare program known as Part D, The New York Times reported.
Some people who enrolled in Medicare drug plans did not have any proof of coverage, and some pharmacists could not get the information needed to verify eligibility for drug benefits and low-income subsidies.
Friday, North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven, a Republican, said he had to act because "some low-income elderly and disabled individuals can't get their prescriptions filled through their Medicare drug plans."
Vermont's Republican Gov. Jim Douglas said the state would pay drug claims for low-income people until the federal government fixed problems in the new program, and said, "The federal system simply is not working."
