Democrats propose changes to Medicare Part D

Several Democrats in Congress are working to promote legislation that would refine the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, based on problems encountered in these first two months of the benefit. This legislation would force Part D plans to maintain drug prices and coverage formularies for an entire year - currently, Part D plans can change their formularies every 60 days and are not limited in how often they can update their drug prices. Furthermore, the proposed legislation would establish a uniform method of notifying patients when their prescriptions will not be covered, and would require Medicare to guarantee payment for up to 60 days in cases where the pharmacist cannot identify whether a patient is enrolled in a plan.