Senior Medication Continuity After an Evacuation

About 90 percent of adults over 65 take at least one prescription medication, and most take four or more. After an evacuation, those bottles often get left behind on the kitchen counter or buried in a damaged home. Without medication, blood pressure spikes, blood sugar drops, blood thinners stop working, and within days a manageable disaster becomes a medical one. The good news is federal and state emergency rules let pharmacies dispense a 30-day refill almost right away, even without a prescription bottle in hand.

First, every state has an emergency refill law that activates during a declared disaster. Under these rules, a pharmacist can dispense a one-time 30-day emergency supply of most maintenance medications without contacting the prescribing doctor. The pharmacist needs the medication name and dose, plus a photo ID. Controlled substances (opioids, ADHD medications, certain sleep aids, certain anti-anxiety drugs) are usually excluded from emergency refill laws, so those still require a doctor call.

Second, Medicare Part D plans must allow out-of-network pharmacy refills during a disaster. Normally Part D requires you to fill at an in-network pharmacy. During an emergency declaration, any pharmacy in the country can fill the prescription at the in-network rate. Bring your Medicare Part D card and tell the pharmacist there is an active emergency declaration.

Third, if cost is a problem, Project HOPE and the National Council on Patient Information and Education run pharmacy help programs that pay for medication for disaster victims. Direct Relief has a Replace Your Meds program that pays for replacement prescriptions free for evacuated seniors. Call 1-800-DIABETES or your local Area Agency on Aging for connection to these programs.

Fourth, Medicare offers a Special Enrollment Period after a disaster. If your Medicare Advantage or Part D plan no longer works for you in your new location, you have a 60-day window to change plans without waiting for fall open enrollment.

(Sources: Medicare.gov — Special Enrollment Periods; CMS.gov — Emergency Refill Rules; Project HOPE)