The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided the following updated information about the Medicare-endorsed prescription drug discount card program at the May 26, 2004, meeting of the Coordinating Committee, National Medicare Education Program (NMEP):

CMS has approved 73 general cards, i.e., cards that are available to all people with Medicare.

• 40 of the cards are national cards
• 33 of the cards are regional cards
• 1 additional card sponsor is going through the appeals process
• The list of approved drug card sponsors is available by clicking on the CMS website, http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicarereform/drugcard/sponsorinfo/

Prices are displayed on the Prescription Drug and Other Assistance Program (PDAP) folder of www.medicare.gov for 66 cards.

• 33 of these cards are national and 33 are regional.
• Information about some cards is not up on the web because the card sponsor has chosen not to market the cards yet.

CMS has approved 84 "exclusive" cards, i.e., cards offered by Medicare HMOs and other Medicare Advantage (formerly Medicare+Choice) plans.

• These cards are displayed on PDAP, however, the prices for prescriptions are not displayed because enrollees in these plans can only enroll in the card offered by their plan.

CMS has approved several cards as special endorsement cards, i.e., cards that are offered to specific populations, either residents of long-term care facilities, individuals who get care through Indian Health Service, or residents of the territories.

• 3 national cards were approved for residents of long-term care facilities;
• 2 cards were approved for Indian Health Service;
• 4 cards were approved for the territories
• Information about these cards is not yet available on PDAP because the cards are not yet being marketed or open for enrollment.

CMS also provided updates about access to 1-800-MEDICARE and information on the PDAP web site:

• The most frequent comments about the web site are:

• Drugs people use are not included in the list of pharmaceuticals
• The prices on the web site do not match the prices quoted by pharmacies or card sponsors
• Pharmacies listed as participating in a card say they are not participating

• CMS has taken the following action:

• The dictionary of pharmaceuticals has been expanded
• They have added a pop-up box that explains what to do if a drug does not appear on the list
• Card information is taken off the web site if CMS finds problems with the data, either pricing or pharmacy networks. The information is added when problems are corrected.

• CMS has taken the following action to address problems with 1-800-MEDICARE

• Additional customer service representatives (CSRs) have been added through the 1-800-MEDICARE contractor
• CMS has routed calls to 11 of its fee-for-service contractors with large call centers
• Provided expedited PDAP training for new CSRs who handle only PDAP questions; other questions go to CSRs with more experience. These new CSRs will receive full training in the future

The standard enrollment forms are now available on www.medicare.gov

• CMS will soon make available the CMS sponsor ID number for each card so that community-based organizations can complete forms for beneficiaries.

The Center for Medicare Advocacy will continue to provide additional information about the discount drug card program as it becomes available. This information was current when written, on May 26, 2004.

© Copyright, Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc. 05/05/2008