Rural Perspective Regarding Regulations Implementing Titles I and II of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA).

摘要

In this portion of the Policy Paper, we provide some guidance regarding provisions in the Proposed Rule 'Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit.' The benefit was enacted into law on December 8, 2003, as part of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA). We reviewed the Proposed Rule and have identified sections that might be of special concern to rural Medicare beneficiaries, medical care providers, and policymakers. Most of the sections identified below, however, are concerned with access to prescription drug coverage and whether there will be systematic differences between rural and urban areas and between areas that differ with respect to the number of sponsors of drug coverage. Several sections are also referenced out of concerns for impacts of the legislation on rural pharmacies. The primary focus of a number of Subparts (summarized in Section I of the Proposed Rule) is on rules that will affect providers of drug coverage; this Policy Paper does not focus on rural dimensions of coverage from the insurance provider's perspective.