Pick a Card!#?$!
Great. If the info on the SmartCard is so messed up, what about the others? It's time to hit the phones.
Secret Prices!
The Medicare Web site listed "Precision Discounts (Option A)" as having the second best price -- $139.25 -- for my mom's three listed drugs (Isopto Carbachol, Allegra and prednisone). I call Precision to confirm.
The customer service rep tells me that they don't cover prednisone, but they do cover hydrochlorothiazide, Lanoxin (although only in double the dose my mom takes), methazolamide (for $54 to $67, more than the $52.99 she pays with her senior citizen discount and Serevent ($10, instead of Calvert Arundel's $99.54).
And she can only give me the price for Isopto Carbachol in pill form. "Um, these are drops that go in her eyes," I tell her. "Don't you think using pills would be painful?" She is not amused.
Worse, she tells me that my mom's pharmacy doesn't participate in the plan. "But the Medicare Web site says they do!" Sorry, Calvert Arundel is not in the Precision database.
I hang up and call back, getting a different rep.
"Is it true that Calvert Arundel Pharmacy isn't in the plan?" Yup.
"Is it also true that she can get Serevent for $10 if she uses one of the participating pharmacies?"
Well, the rep can't tell. . . . It seems that the database at Precision Discounts has its own little glitch: It can price only pills. Any liquids or inhalers come up with inaccurate information. (Okay, that may explain why the first rep had pill prices for the eyedrops.) But, she helpfully tells me, she can give me another phone number where someone can look up the Serevent price for me.
I call the other number and am put on hold. Five minutes later, a rep says she can't tell me the price of the Serevent unless my mother has already signed up for Precision Discounts.
"No, I need to know the price so we can decide whether it's worth it for her to join Precision Discounts."
Sorry, she is not allowed to disclose the information -- but she'll be happy to transfer me to a number where they'll sign Mom up, and then they can transfer me back to her and she'll tell me the price. I don't think so, I tell her.
I call two more plans, Advantra X-tra and BD Advantage. Neither covers prednisone. Both do cover Lanoxin for $4 to $6, vs. the $22 to $24 offered by Precision and SmartCard.
Alas, BD Advantage says (contrary to the Medicare Web site) that Calvert Arundel Pharmacy doesn't participate.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
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Line Busy? Others Can Help
Got questions about Medicare prescription card choices? Can't get through on 800-MEDICARE? Other state and local agencies are gearing up to help. (State offices will give you the number for a local counseling center.)
As of last week, counseling appointments at these agencies were available with little or no wait. However, some agencies require consumers to first provide prescription information (either by phone or on a form that must be completed and mailed back) before making an appointment. Seniors for whom that's a problem -- those, for example, who can't read the small print on their prescription bottles -- should let advisers know by phone.
Also worth noting: Counselors will be using the Medicare.gov Web site as their primary information source. Given some of the glitches discovered on the site, it may make sense to wait a few weeks to allow for cleanup before making an appointment.
• In the District: Health Insurance Counseling Project, 202-739-0668, TTY: 202-973-1079; provided through the George Washington University Law School.
• In Maryland: Senior Health Insurance Assistance Program, 410-767-1100 or 800-AGE-DIAL (800-243-3425), TTY: 410-767-1083.
• In Virginia: Health Insurance Counseling and Assistance Project, 804-662-9333 or 800-552-3402, TTY: 804-662-9333 or 800-552-3402.
-- Lisa Barrett Mann
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