|
Public
Employee Press
Health
and Security Plan
Transistion period ends for mandatory mail-order program
The grace period for the new mandatory
mail-order program for long-term medications ended April 1. The DC 37
Health and Security Plan will no longer provide drug coverage for participants
who seek to continue to fill prescriptions for maintenance medications
at neighborhood pharmacies.
The plan will, however, still permit participants to get up to three refills
of new prescriptions of maintenance drugs at pharmacies before requiring
them to use the mail-order program.
The plan implemented the new program on Jan. 1 because of the skyrocketing
cost of prescription drugs. As part of the mandatory mail-order program,
participants may obtain medication for up to a year before getting a new
prescription.
Before the mail-order program became mandatory in January, you had
to ask your doctor for a new prescription every six months, said
Rosaria R. Esperon, administrator of the plan. To make the program
more convenient, we extended that period to a year. People on maintenance
drugs should ask their doctors for one-year supplies (90-day prescriptions
with three refills) to avoid having to make an office visit every six
months.
For information about the mail-order program, call the plans drug
administrator, Express Scripts, at 1-800-233-7139. You may obtain a postage-free
mail-order envelope by visiting the plan at union headquarters or by calling
212-815-1531.
| |