When thousands of elderly Californians wake up this morning, they will find that they are not only without Medicare coverage for prescription drugs, but that they are being forced to pay costly premiums for having no coverage until they have spent thousands of dollars before their ‘benefit’ resumes.

That is why it is imperative that senior advocacy groups continue their efforts to provide access to safe, affordable prescriptions, says Gary Passmore of the Congress of California Seniors (CCS).

“That is the reason that CCS earlier this year launched www.SafeSourceRx.com , an Internet and mail order pharmacy service endorsed and overseen by CCS that builds upon the expertise and professionalism of one of the leading mail order pharmacies in Canada,” Passmore says. “We were fully aware that unfortunately many seniors did not understand the Doughnut Hole or that they would continue to have to pay premiums even though they have no coverage.

“The fact is that the elderly in the Doughnut Hole are worse off than they were before the enactment of the Medicare Prescription Drug Card Plan (Part D),” he continues. “Even if they had some small savings before their coverage ended, those in the Doughnut Hole now return to having no coverage until they spend $2850 out of their own pockets to reach the aptly named ‘catastrophic’ level of payments.”

Passmore said the tragedy of the loss of coverage is compounded by the fact that they must still pay a premium to their drug plan, creating additional financial burdens by forcing them to pay just to remain eligible to be able to reach the catastrophic level.

“The burden is made greater because they must return to paying the full price for prescriptions whose cost has outpaced inflation thanks to continued price increases of pharmaceutical manufacturers.”

Passmore notes that, unlike Part D, seniors purchasing prescriptions from www.SafeSourceRx.com do not need to enroll in a plan, pay no deductibles, no co-payments, no premiums and face no geographical restrictions.

“Huge numbers of America’s elderly will not reach the catastrophic level where their benefit resumes. At the same time, many will simply not be able to afford the higher prescription costs unless they are made aware of the service that can be provided by safe, affordable prescriptions from licensed pharmacies that meet the highest standards of quality and safety.,” Passmore said. “www.SafeSourceRx.com combines the expertise of one of Canada’s leading mail-order pharmacies with the professional standards that America’s elderly has a right to expect, as well as the endorsement of CCS.”

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