Insurers ordered to honor prescriptions

The Bush administration has ordered insurers to provide a temporary 30-day supply of medicines to Medicare Part D recipients in an effort to control growing problems. The White House also ordered co-pays for low income seniors to be capped at $5 per prescription. The move is seen as an admission that things are not going as smoothly as they could be. Over the weekend, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mark McClellan conceded that "thousands" of program recipients have been denied access to their prescriptions in the benefit's first week. Widespread problems have led many states to take action to ensure that those who need medicines get them.

- see this article from Boston.com

PLUS: Nursing homes have been particularly hard hit by the disruptions that followed in the new benefit's wake. Article

AND: Of course, ground zero belongs to pharmacists, who face what many are describing as "an administrative nightmare." Article