11:40 PM CST on Wednesday, January 25, 2006

By LEE MCGUIRE / KVUE News

The state is taking action to help thousands of central Texans, who the federal government mistakenly dropped from its prescription drug plan.

Nearly 7 thousand people in Travis County qualify for the Medicare Part D plan that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2006. Most of those that qualify for the plan are elderly or disabled.

Medicare blames a computer error in Washington D.C. that affected records for two-thirds of the people enrolled in the Part D Plan.

Texas pharmacies found it nearly impossible to fill the prescriptions of patients whose records were affected by the computer error.

Governor Rick Perry has ordered Texas to become the 25th state to bypass the new federal Medicare Part D system, and go back, temporarily, to the old state-run plan. On Tuesday, the federal government promised to reimburse Texas for the expense.