Government
Drug benefit demo expanded
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 6, 2004
A demonstration program designed to give beneficiaries with cancer and other serious illnesses early access to the Medicare drug benefit has been expanded to include a couple more drugs. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently announced that the program would pay for Somavert for treating acromegaly and Mesnex tablets for some of the side effects of chemotherapy.
Like the other drugs included in the project, both are self-administered medications that can be prescribed in place of injectable drugs that would be covered under Medicare Part B.
"We encourage people without coverage for the drugs they need to sign up, and it's easy to do," said CMS Administrator Mark McClellan, MD, PhD.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/09/06/gvbf0906.htm.
