AUGUSTA – Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt pledged to work with the state to solve problems in the new federal Medicare drug program during a meeting Wednesday with Gov. John Baldacci.

“We had a very productive meeting,” Leavitt said after the State House session, which lasted for more than an hour. Leavitt said the federal and state governments share one goal, and that is to make sure people who need medicines get them “when they need them.”

Baldacci said Leavitt recognized the problems in Maine and pledged to send Medicare experts to the state. The Democratic governor said he also is determined to see that all eligible Mainers receive their medicines without delays.

Leavitt met earlier in the day with U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe and other members of the Senate Finance Committee. The secretary said he has traveled to several other states to discuss similar problems with their governors.

While problems have occurred, the “vast majority” of new program enrollees across the country are experiencing no problems, said Leavitt. He said the new program, which has been signing up 50,000 people a day, “is the most significant change in Medicare history, and this may be one of the most significant changes in health care history.”

A day before Leavitt’s visit to Maine, federal officials pledged to reimburse states that bought medicine for senior citizens and disabled people who could not get help through the new Medicare drug benefit during the transition to the federal program. The program took effect Jan. 1.

Some Mainers found they weren’t enrolled in the new program when they went to get prescriptions filled, and others were asked to pay much larger copays than they were supposed to pay. Leavitt said the bulk of the problems affected “dual eligibles,” those eligible under both the Medicaid and Medicare programs.

As Maine and two dozen other states decided to continue emergency coverage for eligible residents, the federal government promised reimbursements from the private plans. With state expenses in some cases exceeding what the private plans will pay, the government is now promising to step in and cover all expenses until Feb. 15.

Baldacci said the overall cost to the state is now estimated to be around $3.2 million.

According to Carol Carothers, director of the Maine chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Baldacci’s action effectively countered the early chaos and frustration of the transition. But the governor’s fix, she cautioned Wednesday, is only temporary.

“It’s quiet now because people are relying on the old way of getting their medications,” she said. “When MaineCare goes away again, I’m not sure we’ll see that much has been fixed.”

Bangor pharmacist Bill Miller sat in on the meeting with Leavitt and said he was impressed with the secretary’s understanding of how heavily Maine has been affected by the Medicare Part D problems. Though Miller had hoped Leavitt would agree to allow MaineCare to continue covering Mainers’ medications until March 1, he’s resigned to the Feb. 15 deadline.

“Life is full of what-ifs,” Miller said after the meeting. “Hopefully by the 15th, the 9,000 or 10,000 people whose enrollments are still screwed up will be squared away.” Miller added that the number of Medicare Part D problems at his State Street business gets smaller every day.

Jude Walsh, pharmacy affairs coordinator for the Governor’s Office of Health Policy and Finance, called the Feb. 15 deadline “ambitious” and said the state is still paying for about 2,000 prescriptions a day at a cost of about $100,000 a day. “It’s clear to me we still have a lot of problems to resolve in a short time,” she said.

Portland psychiatrist Benjamin Crocker has been working since November on informational charts that will allow consumers to compare the various Medicare plans available in Maine. The preliminary charts, which cover only some plans and the most common psychiatric medications, are posted online at www.mainepsych.org.

But even in the short months he’s been working on the project, he said, plans have changed the medications they cover, their monthly charges, and other elements of their policies. Policies that cover dual-eligibles, he noted, are likely to be tightly controlled and to change frequently in order to hold down costs to the companies that offer them.

Snowe said Leavitt “made no excuses” during his earlier meeting with her in Washington.

“He assured me that he is committed to quickly reimburse the states like Maine for the costs they have incurred in ensuring that the people of my state continue to receive the drugs they need and to ensure that accurate information is provided to all enrollees,” she said.

Snowe expressed concerns that seniors who make poor choices in selecting a drug plan will not receive the most appropriate drugs.

“Many seniors are confused, angry, and concerned – for good reason – that they do not have adequate information about the plans being offered,” said Snowe, who is co-sponsoring legislation to require federal reimbursements and to extend the signup period for the benefit through 2006.

The National Conference of State Legislatures said Wednesday that 25 states and the District of Columbia are offering emergency coverage while the federal government tries to fix problems in the Medicare Part D program.