U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt rolled into Denver on Thursday, his big blue Medicare Prescription Bus blaring the lyric popularized by Johnny Cash, “I’ve been everywhere, man.”
And Leavitt has.
He has been touring the country, appearing in hundreds of cities promoting Medicare’s new prescription drug benefit.
Thursday’s Denver visit was his second in six months.
At a gathering also attended by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Leavitt mingled with Medicare beneficiaries who got help signing up from Denver Health Medical Center staff.
By noon, about 50 seniors had stopped by, said Dee Martinez, Denver Health spokeswoman.
About 350,000 Colorado Medicare members now have prescription drug coverage, 20,000 of them enrolling last month. But there are still 150,000 who have not chosen a plan.
The Medicare Part D benefit, as it is formally known, has been plagued by technical problems, including not being able to verify some seniors’ coverage and finding others enrolled mistakenly in two plans.
Leavitt said the problems are being addressed.
“The program is working very well in almost every case,” he said. “Anytime you have a system that changes for 25 million people, you have things that happen.”
In Colorado, 18 private insurance companies are offering 43 Medicare-approved prescription drug plans.
Staff writer Marsha Austin can be reached at 303-820-1242 or maustin@denverpost.com.
