CMS Administrator Mark McClellan on Wednesday and Thursday visited Pennsylvania and Ohio to promote the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, the... Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. According to the Tribune-Review, stops on his trip included Youngstown, Cleveland and Akron in Ohio, as well as Buffalo, Erie and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania (Stouffer, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 8/18). McClellan gave a speech to more than 150 Medicare beneficiaries, providers and senior advocates at the Akron General Health and Wellness Center (Powell, Akron Beacon Journal, 8/19). In Pittsburgh, he met with Medicare beneficiaries in North Hills, after discussing the benefit in a telephone interview with reporters. During the interview, McClellan said CMS will work with state officials to ensure that residents enrolled in PACE, Pennsylvania's prescription drug assistance program, will receive equal or better coverage under the new Medicare benefit. PACE has requested the authority to automatically enroll in a single prescription drug plan all PACE beneficiaries who qualify for additional financial assistance under the Medicare benefit. McClellan "stopped short" of saying CMS would grant the request, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (Fahy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8/19).

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