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Medication News & Update

Federal News: Long-term care pharmacies unhappy with Part D limits "CMS policy will have a discriminatory impact on institutionalized Medicare beneficiaries because escitalopram is currently the preferred or co-preferred antidepressant of the SSRI class in the long-term care setting and is taken by at least 200,000 residents," wrote ASCP Director of policy and advocacy Thomas Clark in a July 5 letter to the agency.
Drug Topics, Nov. 21, 2005

Pitching a do-nothing approach to Medicare

For millions of senior citizens struggling to make sense of Medicare's new drug coverage, one pitch is enticingly simple: Don't do anything. It's a message being pushed by private insurers eager to hang onto 5 million older Americans who already buy supplemental Medicare policies and now must decide whether to stay with them or switch to another plan.

Los Angeles Times, Nov. 28, 2005

Bush administration officials say they have received scores of complaints about the aggressive tactics used by some insurance companies and agents to market Medicare's new prescription drug benefit. The officials said they would take disciplinary action if they found that the tactics had broken federal rules.

New York Times, Nov. 27, 2005

Controversial House legislation designed to gain control of Medicaid growth has split Democrats, with lawmakers in Washington united in their opposition while Democratic governors are quietly supporting the provisions and questioning the party's reflexive denunciations.

Washington Post, Nov. 28, 2005