By Kelley Weiss
Kansas City, MO – The Missouri Department of Social Services is accepting more low-income seniors and disabled Missourians into a prescription drug program to help cover out-of-pocket expenses. KCUR's Kelley Weiss reports.
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Currently 165,000 people are enrolled in the Missouri Prescription Drug Plan, which supplements gaps in Medicare drug coverage.
Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder says although the Medicare drug plan covers most costs sometimes people exceed their spending limit for prescriptions and fall in the coverage donut hole.
Kinder says the state will spend $20 million dollars to pay for fifty percent of out-of-pocket costs for low-income seniors and disabled Missourians. He says this year the program can accept 50,000 more people.
Peter Kinder: "This has allowed us to currently reach more than ten times as many people as we were reaching with the old Missouri Senior Rx plan."
There are no enrollment fees or deductibles for people who qualify for the state drug plan. To qualify participants must be enrolled in the Medicare Part D Drug Plan, make less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level and be at least 65-years-old or disabled.
Funding for health care coverage on KCUR has been provided by the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.
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