Elder Law News

Attorney General & CWAG Elder Law Center Launch Medicare D Watch

Campaign to shed light on Medicare Part D abuses, problems

Madison— Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager and Helen Marks Dicks, Director of the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups’ Elder Law Center announced today the creation of a joint effort to combat the growing number of Medicare Part D scams and coverage problems affecting seniors who have enrolled or who are trying to enroll in the federal government’s new prescription drug program.

The joint effort, called Medicare D Watch, is a statewide project to uncover fraudulent practices and coverage problems with the new Medicare Part D program and to help seniors who have been hurt as a result.

“This new drug plan can be confusing, which could make Medicare beneficiaries vulnerable to exploitation,” Lautenschlager said. “The Wisconsin Department of Justice aggressively enforces the law against those who would exploit seniors – and we will be watching those who attempt to take advantage of the new system.”

Questionable activities range from deceptive sales practices such as enrolling a Medicare beneficiary, without his or her knowledge, into a more expensive Medicare Advantage plan rather than a Medicare Part D plan to problems resulting from Part D plans changing their formularies without notice.

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	Did You Know?
	Estimated that 820,000 elders became victims of elder abuse in 1994 The National Aging Resource Center on Elder Abuse (now the National Center on Elder Abuse) estimated that in 2004 there were 820,000 elders became victims of elder abuse. 106 percent increase in the number of reported cases between 1986 and 1994, from 117,000 to 241,000.