Blue Shield of California Medicare Prescription Drug Plan information

Medicare Rx part D, plans and rates for your state.

Blue Cross of California introduced 3 Plans for Medicare Part D Rx.

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If you are in California we have an information packet available from a partner site.

The Standard Benefit for Medicare Part D for 2006 has been set by CMS.

Medicare Part D, Prescription drug benefits has a $250 deductible after which the benefit is 75% coverage of the next $2000, so the covered person will pay $500 of that $2000.

After that is a $2850 ‘donut hole’ which is not covered at all, and then 95% coverage for any covered prescriptions from then on.
From BenefitWebsite.com

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Blue Shield of California has filed an application with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to offer a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) to all Medicare-eligible Californians. The application is currently being reviewed by CMS. Here’s what we expect to happen next:

October 2005
Blue Shield of California will be sending educational packages about Medicare PDPs to all agents, information about how Blue Shield members may be affected, and how agents can help them make the decisions that meet their needs.

Send Blue Shield Medicare Supplement clients notification letters about their prescription drug coverage choices.

November 2005
Blue Shield of California will mail notifications letters to Medicare-eligible members enrolled in individual and family plan, and group plans, about their prescription drug coverage choices.

November 15, 2005
The Medicare Prescription Drug Plan enrollment period begins, and carriers offering Medicare Prescription Drug Plans can start accepting enrollment applications.

January 1, 2006
Medicare Prescription Drug Plan coverage begins for Blue Shield of California members who enroll by December 31, 2005.

May 15, 2006
This is the final day that Blue Shield of California members who have non-creditable prescription drug coverage or no prescription drug coverage can choose a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan with no late enrollment penalty.
Except for certain circumstances, such as moving outside the Medicare PDP’s service area, members are locked into the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan they elected until the next open enrollment period, at which time they can make an election change for a January 1, 2007 effective date.

November 15, 2006
Open enrollment for 2007 begins. Members can remain in or drop their current Medicare Prescription Drug Plan, or enroll in another Medicare Prescription Drug Plan for a January 1, 2007 effective date. However, if they drop their Medicare Prescription Drug Plan coverage, they will have to pay the late penalty to enroll in a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan in the future.

Questions?
Call the agents at http://benefitwebsite.com at (800) 655-9525

Prescription vending machines

The Los Angeles Times – By Shari Roan, Times Staff Writer

The lines at most pharmacies have gotten so frustratingly long in recent years that some people may want a Valium by the time they reach the counter.

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But in this day of self-serve gas pumps and airline ticket dispensers, a solution could be at hand. Two companies have begun to install automated drug-dispensing machines, which look and operate like ATMs, in a few California stores. If customers take to the process, the machines may become increasingly commonplace.

To get their medication, consumers simply enter identifying information on a touch screen and swipe a credit card to pay for the prescription (there is no service fee). The medication already bagged slides down a chute. For now, the automated machines can dispense only refills, by order of the California State Board of Pharmacy.

“It’s well-recognized that there is a shortage of pharmacists and the whole system is being taxed,” says Bill Holmes, president and chief executive of Distributed Delivery Networks Corp., the San Marcos maker of one automated system. “But wherever there is a labor shortage, there is an automation solution.”

Few consumers would disagree the lines to pick up medications have grown. A dramatic upswing in drug prescriptions in the past decade along with a shortage of pharmacists has contributed to the gridlock. And, although more people today have prescription drug insurance, questions about coverage and co-pays can slow the pace of the pick-up line as have recent laws requiring pharmacists to offer consultations to patients receiving new prescriptions.

Pharmacies too have felt the pressures, hence their willingness to test the automated drug dispensers. The state’s first automated dispensers were recently installed in stores in the San Diego area.

Distributed Delivery Networks has a machine at White Cross Drug Store in San Diego and will open another at a Kmart in Manhattan, N.Y., this summer.

A competing company, Del Mar-based Asteres Inc., has installed its machine, called ScriptCenter, at a Longs drugstore in Del Mar and will soon add machines at Longs stores in San Diego and Walnut Creek. A Vons in San Diego will also carry a ScriptCenter later this year, as will a supermarket pharmacy in Reston, Va.

Asteres founder Linda Pinney says the idea of an automated drug dispenser occurred to her while waiting at her local pharmacy to pick up her monthly medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, a condition that can make concentration and extended patience difficult. “I thought, ‘This is crazy; I have ADHD,’ ” says Pinney, who has a background working in healthcare automation technology. “I was determined that this was a problem that needed to be solved.” Pharmacy experts agree that long waits are a problem. But they say it’s too early to know how helpful automated drug dispensers may be.

California Board of Pharmacy regulations do not specifically allow dispensing through automated systems, but stores carrying the machines have been granted waivers to test the technology, says Patricia Harris, executive officer of the Board of Pharmacy. (Mail-order drug delivery is covered by different regulations.) If the machines are successful, the board may vote to alter rules to permit their use. “Long lines are a reality in many stores,” says Harris. “There are peak hours when it’s really difficult for patients, and it may be more convenient to use one of these delivery systems.”

The machines, which can hold hundreds of prescriptions, may prove to be of greatest value to consumers who want to pick up their prescriptions after the pharmacy has closed. In many chain drug and grocery stores, store hours are longer than the pharmacy hours. “Many grocery stores are open 24 hours but the pharmacy closes at 7,” says Pinney. “Consumers are frustrated with that.” Although pharmacists still fill the prescriptions and load the bags into the machine, automated dispensing may ease their workloads too, says Holmes.

But cutting out the human element worries some pharmacists, who have lobbied hard in recent years to increase their responsibilities for advising and educating consumers. In an April letter to the Board of Pharmacy, the California Pharmacists Assn. said the automated machines would reduce the opportunity for pharmacists and patients to interact. For example, consumers would not have the opportunity to ask questions about drug interactions or how to best use the medication.

“Convenience is not always the best thing,” says John A. Cronin, senior vice president of the California Pharmacists Assn. “What concerns us is the use of this kind of technology would tend to decrease the interaction between the pharmacist and the consumer.” Cronin says his association has suggested that stores installing the technology submit a plan to the State Board of Pharmacy detailing how the machine could improve patient care.

HEALTH AND MEDICINE (TechNewsWorld.com)

After about two years, 6.2 percent of those on BiDil had died, compared with 10.2 percent on those on placebo. Also during that period, 16.4 percent on BiDil were hospitalized for heart failure, compared with 24.4 percent of the rest.

US health authorities OK the sale of heart drug for blacks (AFP via Yahoo! News)

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel recommended the sale of a heart drug for African Americans, the first medicine intended for a particular racial group, the firm developing the drug, NitroMed Inc., said in a statement.

Teacher Accused Of Breaking Into Home To Steal Drugs (WRTV TheIndyChannel.com via Yahoo! News)

Police have charged a North Montgomery High School teacher with going into a family’s home and stealing prescription drugs from their medicine cabinet.