Gov. Donald L. Carcieri announced Monday plans to extend Rhode Island’s efforts to cover the cost of prescription drugs for senior citizens and adults with disabilities who were recently transferred from the federal Medicaid program to the new federal Medicare Part D prescription drug program.
Carcieri has ordered that Rhode Island’s program for helping seniors and adults with disabilities pay for their drugs through Medicaid be reinstituted on a temporary basis for another month. Carcieri also said the federal government has promised to reimburse Rhode Island for its expenses.
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On Jan. 1, the federal government instituted a new program, Medicare Part D, designed to help senior citizens and adults with disabilities access affordable prescription drugs. Previously, Medicare did not cover the cost of prescription drugs. Many low-income seniors and adults with disabilities were afforded prescription drug coverage through Medicaid. The federal government was supposed to transfer these “dual eligible” individuals from the old Medicaid program to the new Medicare Part D program. But, after Jan. 1, many seniors and adults with disabilities found that their information had not been properly transferred and, as a result, experienced problems getting their prescriptions filled.
On Jan. 11, Carcieri signed an executive order directing that Rhode Island’s system for paying the costs of these prescriptions through the Medicaid program, which had been terminated on Jan. 1, be re-instituted. Since that time, and as of Jan. 29, Rhode Island has processed approximately 10,500 prescriptions for 4,452 beneficiaries at a cost of $454,828.56. In recent weeks, the federal government has promised to reimburse Rhode Island for its expenses in covering the cost of prescription drugs that should have been covered by the federal Medicare Part D program.
Although Carcieri’s executive order was set to expire at the end of January, the federal government has not completed its efforts to fully implement Medicare Part D. So, on Monday, Carcieri announced his plans to sign a new executive order to extend Rhode Island’s efforts to cover the cost of these prescription medications for another month, or until the federal issues are resolved.
Carcieri also directed Jane Hayward, secretary of the executive office of Health and Human Services, and Corinne Russo, director of the Department of Elderly Affairs, to convene a series of public meetings to seek input from Rhode Island seniors on problems they may be experiencing with, or concerns they might have about, the implementation of the new federal drug program.
