Prescription Assistance

Information on prescription assistance is available at http://www.floridashine.org/presassis.html It provides sheets, links to other websites, links to other agency publications and contact numbers.

Medicare Part D - The Open Enrollment Period for Medicare Part D Plans officially begins November 15th and will last for 45 days ending on December 31st.

www.Medicare.gov

The official Medicare website is offering information on the new Medicare Prescription Drug coverage. The site is www.medicare.gov. Contains help for seniors and their families to find and compare Medicare Prescription Drug Plans. To use the page, have a list of the medication that the senior takes because the comparison looks at plans which cover the medications the person is currently taking.

Consumers can compare how well drug plans perform in three different categories: customer service, filling prescriptions and providing drug pricing information. The plans are rated using a five star scale. Visit www.medicare.gov and select "Search Tools" and then select "Compare Medicare Prescription Drug Plans" for the comparison data.

Benefits Check-up Rx - A decision support and enrollment service.

This web site "helps you learn about and enroll in valuable government and private programs that can save you money on health care and prescription drugs. Click below to learn whether you are likely to qualify for the new Medicare Prescription Drug Program, Medicare-approved drug discount cards, Company Patient Assistance Programs and other important federal and state programs." Go to https://www.benefitscheckup.org/ to visit the Benefits Check Up Rx website.

SHINE

The Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas provides information about prescription assistance programs and the changes in the new Medicare Part D. Assistance is provided by the SHINE (Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders) program.

Call the Senior Helpline at 1-800-96ELDER (1-800-963-5337). To find coalitions in other areas, go to http://www.accesstobenefits.org/

Extra Help

Seniors who meet income and asset criteria are eligible for Extra Help. The extra help benefit can increase their cost savings by paying for part of the monthly premiums, annual deductibles and prescription co-payments under the new prescription drug program. According to Social Security, the extra help is estimated to be worth an average of $3,900 per year.

Visit the Social Security website at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/prescriptionhelp/ for more information or to apply online.

The eligibility chart is available as a pdf file at http://www.floridashine.org/presassis.html

Florida Prescription Drug Prices

http://www.myfloridarx.com/ "This website was developed by the Florida Attorney General and the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) to help consumers shop for the lowest price in their area for their prescription drugs. The Florida Prescription Drug Price website provides pricing information for the 100 most commonly used prescription drugs in Florida. The prices are the "usual and customary prices, "also known as retail prices, reported monthly by pharmacies. This is the price that an uninsured consumer, with no discount or supplemental plan, would normally pay. Prices at your local pharmacy may change daily, so this website is only meant to help you compare prices at different pharmacies and are not a guaranteed price."

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

How to Choose Your Plan - http://www.healthdecisions.org/guide/. The enrollment period is November 15 - December 31. Learn about Medicare's new prescription drug coverage, find the plan that's best for you and become educated on how to enroll.

Medicare provides comprehensive support to help beneficiaries make a confident decision about drug coverage. That support includes community-based resources offering personalized counseling, materials on www.medicare.gov and through 1-800-MEDICARE, and the Medicare & You handbook with information about coverage in the local area.

Quick Facts about Medicare Drug Coverage and Protecting Your Personal Information. Click here to access a fact sheet created by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that educates consumers about protecting against identity theft and fraud. (It is a pdf file and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. This is free software that can be downloaded by clicking here. If you have an older version of the software, you may need to upgrade in order to read the files.)

Charitable Programs (Medicare Rights Center)

The Medicare Rights Center provides a list of charitable programs that may be able to help individuals with the cost of prescription drug co-pays. http://www.medicarerights.org/pdf/copay_charities.pdf It provides information on benefits provided and eligibility, as well as contact information and instructions on how to apply. These charitable programs are available for those enrolled in Medicare and individuals who are not enrolled in a Medicare drug plan.

"What these charities pay will count towards the...out-of-pocket costs you must spend (not including premiums) before you get catastrophic coverage... However, for it to count, you must fill the prescription at a pharmacy in your drug plan's network and it must be for a drug on your Medicare drug plan's list of covered drugs ('formulary')."

"To decide if you are eligible, these programs may also consider your income, cost of living (dependent on your family size), and medical expenses (including insurance premiums, doctor and hospital expenses, and what you pay for your prescription drugs). You may qualify even if your income is high if your medical expenses are also high or you have a lot of people in your household."