Mental Health Groups Launch Web Site Dedicated to Medicare’s New Prescription Drug Benefit

Posted on October 13, 2005

Washington, DC, — Leading mental health organizations have joined together to create a central resource on Medicare’s new prescription drug benefit. The new website, www.mentalhealthpartd.org, contains easy-to-understand, top-line information tailored specifically to psychiatrists and other physicians, providers at community health centers, and consumers and their families.

The goal of the Mental Health Part D collaboration is to provide synthesized information that will facilitate informed decision-making for providers and consumers as they choose new Medicare prescription drug plans. 

The Medicare prescription drug benefit is especially important for persons with mental illnesses, many of whom are currently without drug coverage or who are receiving prescription drugs through Medicaid. In fact, more than half of people with Medicare under age 65 have mental health problems, almost 40 percent of individuals with both Medicare and Medicaid have a mental or cognitive disorder, and almost 20 percent of all people over age 55 experience specific mental disorders.

This site takes complex information and makes it easy to understand and implement, which will help people with mental illnesses successfully transition to the new benefit.

The Mental Health Part D website will be continually updated to include the latest on enrollment, costs (including low-income subsidies), prescription drug lists, and the appeals process.  Notably, it will grow to include comparisons of prescription drug plan formularies to help physicians, providers, and consumers choose a plan to cover all or most of their medications, as well as an interactive tool to provide feedback and assistance on an individual’s situation as the new prescription drug benefit begins on January 1, 2006.

Mental Health Part D partners include: the American Association of Community Psychiatrists, the American Psychiatric Association, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, the National Mental Health Association, and Treatment Effectiveness Now.

Visit the Mental Health Part D website online at www.mentalhealthpartd.org for more information