(Not) Helping those that help others

Star Tribune:

Minnesota on Wednesday began paying pharmacists $1.6 million for drugs they've given to low-income people who mistakenly were denied nearly free drugs by Medicare and their drug-insurance plans.

And that's just the bill for 24,451 claims filed by pharmacists through midnight Tuesday.

The state denied payment on 6,193 claims. In coming weeks, pharmacists likely will seek millions more.

Also Wednesday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty's executive council extended for 30 days his five-day emergency order issued Saturday approving the payments. State officials hope that by then, Medicare will solve problems that have left hundred of thousands of poor Americans struggling to get needed medicine.

Not to worry, Minnesota. Surely this money will be reimbursed by the feds since it was their mistake, right? Not so:

Medicare administrator Mark McClellan said the new Medicare legislation was clear: "Under this program, we don't have the authority to pay states directly. People are in Medicare drug plans, and it's the Medicare plans that are supposed to pay for the medications."

That could create an administrative nightmare for states such as California that stepped up to safeguard the health of low-income elderly and disabled people whose Medicare coverage has not materialized because of administrative problems and poor planning by Medicare officials.

As others have noted, these shortfalls in coverage had been foreseen for weeks. Rather than address the problems, the Bush administration said no such problem existed. And once again, their rhetoric failed to meet the reality of the situation.

This truly is the worst plan ever.