Prescription Assistance

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." Click here to visit the Benefits Check Up Rx website.

Access to Benefits Coalition

The Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas provides information about prescription assistance programs and the changes in the new Medicare Part D. This is funded, in part, by the Access to Benefits Coalition (ABC). Assistance is provided by SHINE (Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders) and ABC volunteers.

Call the Senior Helpline at 727-217-8111 (in Pinellas County) or 1-800-861-8111 (in Pasco County and other areas of Florida). To find coalitions in other areas click here and select your state.

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 2008 Plan - http://www.healthdecisions.org/guide/. The enrollment period is November 15 - December 31, 2007.

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.)

Another pdf file from CMS on Medicare Prescription Coverage is available that describes the benefits provided by Part A, Part B, and Part D of Medicare 2007 Enrollment.