States Lack Staff to Support Part D
From USA Today:
Staffing shortages are hampering the start of Medicare’s prescription-drug program in many states, forcing seniors and those with disabilities to wait weeks for counseling.
The delays could slow enrollment of up to 30 million Medicare beneficiaries by May 15, the deadline to sign up before penalties raise the cost of entering the program. State and local officials have appealed to the federal government for money, staff and laptops.
“It’s a numbers problem,” says Matt Denn, Delaware’s insurance commissioner. “We can’t win unless something changes.”
Frustrations boiled over last week at a meeting in Newark, Del., when Denn told U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt that “there are some real significant problems.” The state has four staff members to advise 120,000 seniors, Denn says. Each day they handle about 40 calls, but about 60 go unanswered.
Federal officials say they anticipated the rising demand for assistance and did several things to handle it. They increased funding for state insurance counseling programs from $12 million two years ago to nearly $32 million this year — 60% more than the Medicare program’s advertising budget. They solicited help from outside groups, such as churches and colleges. And they attracted about 1,000 more volunteers.
State programs “are one resource. There are plenty of others,” says Kathleen Harrington of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. She acknowledges, however, that state counselors are the best trained to advise seniors.
In many states, those counselors are falling behind:
• Oregon, with four counselors and about 200 volunteers to handle 540,000 Medicare beneficiaries, is two weeks behind answering calls. “We get a lot of people who hang up,” says Claudia Grimm, who manages the state health insurance program. Officials have asked drug companies for laptops to help enroll people.
• In New York, the Medicare Rights Center has a backlog of 2,000 calls. Robert Hayes, its president, predicts the situation nationwide will get worse around Christmas. The prescription-drug coverage begins Jan. 1, and calls are likely to increase. “We cannot meet anywhere near the demand,” Hayes says.
• Missouri, with eight workers and 200 volunteers, also is two weeks behind. Officials are scheduling events into next March. “We need more volunteers,” says program director Carol Beahan.
• In Phoenix, home to many of Arizona’s 800,000 eligible seniors, officials work nights and weekends. “We are getting swamped,” says Ann Marie Grande, program manager in Maricopa County.
• Michigan has four staff members to serve 1.5 million Medicare recipients. In October, the office fielded 13,000 calls, compared with 43,000 all last year. “They need to be patient with us,” executive director Mary Johnson says.