Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Deane Beebe
Communications Director
212-204-6219
Medicare Rights CenterJune 23, 2006
Program Launched in Bronx to Help People with Medicare Lower Prescription Drug Costs -- Free Help Available Mondays in July, at Pilgrim Pharmacy -- New York, NY – People with Medicare who have limited incomes can still sign up for the Medicare prescription drug benefit (Part D) this year and get help to pay for it.
Ray Macioci of Pilgrim Pharmacy on Westchester Avenue is partnering with the Medicare Rights Center, a New York based, national consumer service organization, to link low-income Bronx residents who have Medicare to programs that can help them pay for their prescription drugs.
Counselors are available at no charge on Mondays, July 10, 17, 24 and 31 from 11 am to 2 pm at Pilgrim Pharmacy, 2941 Westchester Avenue.
Counselors provide information and screen older and disabled Bronx residents for programs that lower prescription drug costs significantly. People who qualify for “extra help” will get help paying Medicare drug plan premiums, deductibles and coinsurance. Prescription drugs will cost no more than $1 - $5.
To qualify for “extra help,” an individual’s income should be less than $1,300 per month, and a couple’s income should be less than $1,700 per month. There is no deadline to enroll in a drug plan this year for anyone approved for “extra help.”
“Extra help” allows low-income people with Medicare to save an average of $2,800 per year. Only about 20 percent of older and disabled Americans eligible for “extra help” have been approved for it.
If you or someone you know would like assistance by phone, please call 888 RX-LINCS (888-795-4627).