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September 28, 2004
SIGN ON THIS WEEK TO COMMENTS FOR NEW MEDICARE DRUG PROGRAM
Next year, over 100,000 Americans living with AIDS will be shifted into the new Medicare drug program for all of their HIV and other medications. Many will be forced off Medicaid and onto Medicare due to the provisions of the law passed by Congress last year. You've got to take action THIS WEEK to make sure the Medicare program will keep people with AIDS alive.
TAKE ACTION TODAY: Please submit your organizational sign-on to the Medicare drug law comments prepared by the HIV Medicaid/Medicare Work Group. Sign-ons are due by Friday.
- Review the comments. Download them here
- Sign on to comments by sending an email with full contact info to alefert@nastad.org by noon Friday, October 1st.
Sunday's New York Times had a front-page column-one article on the battle over the shape of the new Medicare drug program: insurance companies want to cut costs and boost profits by limiting the number of drugs that will be available to beneficiaries. HIV/AIDS medications are among those drugs the insurance companies want to limit.
Housing Works and other members of the HIV Medicaid/Medicare Work Group have fought for the past year to protect the interests of Americans living with AIDS and HIV in the Medicare program. We've fought for protections in the legislation; we've met with the federal official in charge of Medicare and Medicaid, Dr. Mark McClellan, and now we've prepared comments on the program for submission to the feds next Monday.
Our comments address a number of key areas:
- Drug plans must carry all the drugs that PWAs need;
- Dual-eligibles (beneficiaries with AIDS who are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare) can't get fewer benefits under Medicare than they now do in Medicaid;
- Grievance and appeal processes must be effective and easy-access, and must include the right to get an emergency supply of medications while an appeal is under way;
- Drug plans can't violate the privacy of people with AIDS and other Medicare beneficiaries.
Sign on to these rockin' comments by following the link above, and make your voice heard on this crucial issue.
If you have the time, we encourage you to write a shorter letter from your organization, in addition to signing on to this one. A simple letter could simply highlight the two key issues in our introduction: (1) the need for persons with AIDS to be treated as a special needs group to have access to an "open formulary"-any and all drugs that are medically necessary for their health; and (2) asking CMS to guarantee that dual-eligibles transitioning from Medicaid drug coverage to Medicare drug coverage don't lose drug coverage at all during this transition.
Federal officials will be literally counting the number of comments received about the new drug program, and the AIDS community must stand up and be counted. Download the comments from the link above, sign on to the group letter, and send your own comments to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services by regular mail or electronically using the following link -- thanks for your time and action. Sign-ons are due to the HIV Medicaid/Medicare Work Group by October 1; comments to the the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services by next Monday, October 4.
ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION: Go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/regulations/ecomments/, click "Send" and select docket # CMS-4068-P
SNAIL MAIL:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Department of Health and Human Services
Attention: CMS-4068-P
PO Box 8014
Baltimore, MD 21244-8014
File Code: CMS-4068-P