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New Ways to get Prescription Drugs

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People who have Medicare and Medicaid are “dual eligible”.

There was a change in the law on January 1, 2006.

Now, all “dual eligible” people get prescription drugs through Medicare, not Medicaid. This new system is sometimes called “part D”.

New names

You will have a private plan with a different name, like “Wellspring”, or “CIGNA HealthCare” or “AmeriHealth Advantage” or “RxAmerica”, or another name. There is a list of health plans available to District residents on the Medicare website at

https://www.medicare.gov/MPDPF/Public/Include/DataSection/Results/ListPlanByState.asp. Use the State/Territory pulldown box to find District of Columbia.

More information

If you want to read more about the new plan, here is a booklet with more information
http://thedesk.info/PartD/MedicarePartDBrochureFinal050928.pdf

You can also find out the latest information at
http://www.thedesk.info/PartD/

NEW. United Cerebral Palsy developed a guide to assist people get the most from the Medicare Part D Program. The guide serves as a follow-up and companion document to Understanding Changes in Prescription Drug Coverage for People with Disabilities on Medicare, a consumer guide written by the same authors in 2005. Free copies of the guide are available in PDF, Microsoft Word and HTML formats online at their web site, click here.

Links to help you:

Medicaid Reference Desk for people with cognitive disabilities http://www.thedesk.info/
The Arc of the United States http://www.thearc.org
United Cerebral Palsy http://www.ucp.org

Phone numbers to help you:

If you receive services from MRDDA, you can call the MRDDA Office of Consumer Finances and Benefits at

(202) 673-7340 and speak to

Pauletter Hall or John Watson