HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said that steps were underway to remedy the rampant problems Medicare beneficiaries and pharmacists have experienced since Medicare’s prescription drug benefit was rolled out on January 1, reports the Detroit News. Under fire from Democratic senators and governors, Leavitt said that help lines are now staffed by 4,500 operators—compared to 150 on January 1—and that no beneficiary should leave a pharmacy without a filled prescription. Fourteen Democratic governors have asked the federal government to reimburse the estimated hundreds of millions of dollars states have spent to pay for prescriptions that seniors were wrongly denied. Minnesota, for example, spent $1 million in three days to ensure that the sickest and poorest seniors received their prescriptions after governor Tim Pawlenty issued an emergency order to fill prescriptions, according to a report from Minnesota Public Radio. Nearly 24 million beneficiaries are covered by the Medicare Part D program, an enrollment that exceeded the federal government’s expectations.
