GAO: Medicare Answered the Phones, But Gave Bad Info

A report today by the Government Accountability Office on Medicare’s prescription drug plan says that although "Medicare providers answered phone calls promptly," they "did not consistently provide callers with accurate and complete information."

The phone centers operated by private Medicare providers gave accurate and complete answers on only 34% of the calls, provided no information at all on 15% of the calls, inaccurate information on 22% of the calls and incomplete information on 29% of the calls.  The GAO says two drug plan providers they contacted gave inaccurate or incomplete answers 75% of the time.

Only one drug provider the GAO talked to gave beneficiaries accurate information more than 50% of the time.   

GAO says Medicare providers failed to give accurate or complete answers on costs of the plans more than 70% of the time and "often severely underestimated the actual out-of-pocket costs beneficiaries would face."

"Ten times, sponsors’ call centers underestimated cost by at least $1,000."  On one phone call, the centers underestimated cost by $6,000, the GAO said.