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Drug plan bailout at $2.7 million so far Tuesday, Jan 24, 2006 By Aaron Sadler Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas' bailout of a new Medicare prescription drug plan has reached $2.7 million, with pharmacists and seniors statewide still hurting from the program, legislators heard Monday. The state Department of Health and Human Services said the state has chipped in to pay prescription expenses for 11,000 Arkansans who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, the state health program for the poor, the elderly and the disabled. Last week, Gov. Mike Huckabee ordered the state to continue to pay claims until the end of the month. Federal officials hope to have problems with the troubled benefit worked out by that time. Since Huckabee invoked the emergency measure, DHHS has processed claims for 37,000 total prescriptions at a cost of about $2.7 million, agency director John Selig told members of the Legislature's Joint Interim Committee on Health Insurance and Prescription Drugs. Committee members were concerned Monday about how the state would be reimbursed for the stopgap measure. Sen. Percy Malone, D-Arkadelphia, said the attorney general's office should consider suing Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) - the companies administering Arkansas' 40 Part D plans. "No part of that program has worked except, possibly, that the PBMs have the money in the bank," said Malone, a pharmacist. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt was in Little Rock on Saturday to assure Huckabee that the federal government will assist the state in getting reimbursed for its bailout. "I would hope HHS at the federal level would make it unnecessary for the AG to file 40 lawsuits," Selig said. "But I think we certainly need to keep that option open if they are unable to do that for us." Attorney General Mike Beebe is not yet considering lawsuits, a spokesman said. "Attorney General Beebe is going to continue looking at every possible option to make sure the state gets back the money it has spent to help the seniors and other Medicare recipients who this federal benefit system has let down," Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said. Mark Riley of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association said he worried that rural pharmacists could be going out of business as a result of flaws with the program. Many pharmacists provided medicine to senior citizens for free and now await reimbursement, causing a cash flow nightmare, Riley said. Even when there are no troubles with the benefit, he said, pharmacists accustomed to receiving cash for prescriptions now must wait for payment from the private companies that administer the benefit. Riley said one Jonesboro pharmacist is already $400,000 in the red. He estimated that about 40 percent of Arkansas pharmacies may go out of business as a result of the Medicare Part D problem. Selig said close to 20 percent of the Arkansans dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid had trouble receiving medication under the privately managed benefit. The so-called dual-eligibles were automatically enrolled in one of the 40 prescription drug plans available to Arkansans. Most problems in getting medicine to them have been caused by computer glitches, federal officials believe. The committee voted to send Leavitt a letter asking him to explain specifically how the federal government plans to help the state. After speaking with Leavitt on Saturday, Huckabee said he was confident the state would be reimbursed for drug costs and any administrative expenses. About 20 states have taken the same steps as Arkansas to ensure senior citizens continue to receive medicine. "Our seniors are scared, our seniors are confused, and our pharmacists, frankly, the ones I've talked to, have been very, very frustrated," said Rep. Dustin McDaniel, D-Jonesboro, the committee chairman. |
