WASHINGTON, DC – A change in the Medicare Prescription Drug Program to protect seniors against the sudden loss of coverage for prescription drugs they are taking comes as good news for Medicare beneficiaries.

Under the new policy, a company can change its list of covered drugs, known as formularies, but if they drop any drugs that were on the list they would still have to provide coverage to beneficiaries who are taking those drugs. Under the previous plan, coverage for the particular prescription would be dropped.

Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson is a cosponsor of S.2255, the Medicare Drug Formulary Protection Act that would protect seniors from having their prescription drugs suddenly removed from coverage.

Nelson said, “the new policy, which follows my legislation, makes good sense because after wading through a maze of prescription plans to find the one that best fits their needs, a beneficiary needs to be guaranteed that the drug they require will be provided. The previous rule was extremely unfair and was akin to bait and switch. The new rule assures seniors that the drug plan they enrolled in will cover the drugs it said it would.”

The change in policy comes less than three weeks before the May 15th deadline for seniors to enroll in the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan.

Nelson continues to support extending the sign up deadline to the end of the year and has written a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist urging him to bring legislation to extend the deadline to the floor of the Senate as soon as possible.

“The enrollment process has proved to be confusing for some seniors especially those who are frail and living with problems like dementia as they sort through a variety of drug plan options,” said Nelson. “Given the importance of the decision they will make, it is only right to remove the pressure of facing a penalty if they miss the deadline.”

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