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THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
IN THIS ISSUE
A SPECIAL PUBLICATION CREATED BY REPUBLIC MEDIA CUSTOM PUBLISHING
2 Palliative Care
The latest on the
-
HEALTHCARE NEWS YOU CAN USE FOR YOUR WHOLE FAMILY
4, 7 Support Groups/Events
8 Blake’s Miracle
Vol. 4, No. 2
February 2014
9 Support For Grandfamilies
Affordable
Care Act
Deadline for enrolling for 2014 coverage is March 31st
BY DEBRA GELBART
S
ince some of the details and dates of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have changed since the healthcare.gov website launched in October of 2013, we’ve asked some experts and done some research to help explain what’s new and what’s the same with the law. We’re also revisiting some of the law’s key components.
What’s new
What’s the same
Hardship exemption: If your 2013 individual health insurance plan was cancelled because it didn’t comply with the law, forcing you to consider enrolling in a plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace (via healthcare.gov), you can now get a hardship exemption if you don’t like your options in the Marketplace. The exemption qualifies you for a catastrophic plan (reserved for people under 30 or those with this specific hardship exemption). Source: Enroll America Website: GetCoveredAmerica.org
Adult children: People up to age 26 can stay on their
Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan: The Department of Health and Human Services announced in mid-January that about 85,000 people with a history of serious illness who are enrolled in the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) created under the Affordable Care Act will have until March 31, 2014 before they lose that coverage. Originally, PCIP was slated to end in December 2013. This extension is intended to give PCIP enrollees more time to enroll in health plans through state and federal insurance enrollment websites. Source: Kaiser Health News, Kaiser Family Foundation Website: kff.org
parents’ health insurance plan, even if they are eligible for other employer coverage.
Preventive services: Many preventive health services, including mammography, colonoscopy, contraception, some immunizations plus folic acid supplements for pregnant women, are covered with no out-of-pocket expense for the patient. Pre-existing conditions: No one can be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing medical condition.
Medicare ‘donut hole’ shrinking: Although Medicare
recipients enroll for their coverage through a separate website (Medicare.gov) and during a different enrollment period for 2014 (the 2014 Medicare deadline was Dec. 7, 2013), the ACA does have good news for them, too. The so-called ‘donut hole’ for prescription medications, where cost-sharing is diminished when enrollees reach a certain expense threshold, will continue to shrink every year until it goes away entirely in 2020. Until then, however, the donut hole — mandated as part of the Medicare Part D law that took effect in 2006 — continues to affect patients. Continued on page 4 – AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
Patient advocate and ovarian cancer survivor Laurel Pracht believes that Congress should close the Medicare ‘donut hole’ sooner than 2020. “Some patients may be hospitalized due to not being able to afford their drugs.” /Photo RICK D’ELIA
By 2020, the ACA will close the ‘donut hole’ that affects Medicare recipients What it is: The coverage gap known
as the ‘donut hole’ (mandated as part of Medicare Part D in 2006) is the timeframe between when a Medicare enrollee reaches a specified threshold in out-ofpocket prescription medication expenses but before they reach another (higher) specified threshold in out-of-pocket prescription medication expenses. Not everyone will enter the donut hole.
How it works: In 2014, once a Medicare
IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES FEBRUARY 15, 2014
The last day to sign up for health insurance coverage in order to be covered beginning March 1, 2014.
MARCH 15, 2014
The last day to sign up for health insurance coverage in order to be covered beginning April 1, 2014.
MARCH 31, 2014
The last day to sign up for health insurance coverage to be covered in 2014 and to avoid facing a penalty for not purchasing health insurance.
recipient and his/her plan have spent $2,850 on covered drugs (the combined amount plus the deductible), the recipient enters the coverage gap/donut hole. This amount may change each year.
Continued on page 11 – DONUT HOLE
Pharmacists: An important part of your healthcare team Highly trained medication experts are knowledgeable and accessible BY DEBRA GELBART
U
ntil now, you may not have considered the value of a relationship with a nearby pharmacist or thought about how much knowledge a pharmacist can offer you. He or she is likely to have a doctorate in pharmacy and may be more familiar with adverse reactions or side effects of medications than some physicians or nurses. “Physicians are the diagnosticians, the experts in physiology,” said Tara Storjohann, Pharm.D., assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Midwestern University College of Pharmacy. “Pharmacists are medication experts.”
Tara Storjohann, Pharm.D., (right), is an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Midwestern University College of Pharmacy in Glendale. She said that pharmacists have become more interactive in guiding patients about medication, testing and other issues that improve patient care. Here, she is demonstrating a blood glucose monitoring kit to her administrative assistant, Julie Bennett./Photo RICK D’ELIA
First line of defense
“Pharmacists often serve as the first line of defense for patients seeking guidance for routine ailments,” said Stephen Mullenix, R.Ph., senior vice president, public policy and industry relations at the Scottsdale-based National
Council for Prescription Drug Programs. “There are times when it is not until the prescription is picked up that the patient begins asking basic but important questions about the medication. Making sure that patients obtain, understand and take their prescription medicines is an important part of treatment.” A pharmacist is typically more accessible than other health professionals and can answer questions you may have about non-prescription medications, treatments or supplements as well as prescription drugs, Storjohann said.
Questions to ask
To make sure you can be made aware of any and all potential drug interactions, purchase all prescription medications from a single pharmacy or networked pharmacy chain, Storjohann advised. To begin establishing a relationship with a particular pharmacist, Continued on page 10 – PHARMACISTS