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Seniors: Just the facts, no spiel
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt made three stops in South Florida on Monday to promote the new federal prescription drug program. Senior citizens say they want less promotion and more information.
ASHLEY FANTZ
The sounds of a big band and the clicking of camera shutters made a 15-minute visit to a Margate senior center feel more like a campaign stop than a forum to explain a complex new federal prescription drug program.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt made Margate one of his stops on his South Florida tour to promote the supplemental prescription coverage, which launches in January. His other planned stops were in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
Esther Schneiderman, an 82-year-old Medicare recipient who pays several hundred dollars a month for her medications had two questions.
''Who is going to pay for it?'' she asked. ``Do I have to enroll?''
Those are the primary concerns of the program's target demographic -- those over the age of 65 and the disabled.
Private insurance companies like Humana and United Healthcare have bid to provide plans under the initiative. More than a dozen companies are expected to be chosen, some time before October. Once that list is final, more details will be available, and seniors will be able to sort through the various co-payments and rules.
Seniors can opt to have payment for the new program taken out of their Social Security checks.
Those payments will be based on a sliding scale. For example, beneficiaries earning $14,500 a year -- the federal poverty line -- will be required to pay about $37 a month in premiums, said Gary Karr, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services.
That group also would pay, on average, a $250 annual deductible. The government would pay 75 percent of drug costs up to $2,250 and 95 percent of costs exceeding $3,600 a year.
The new program does not include cosmetic or anti-depressant medications.
''That's still a lot of money for most people,'' said Schneiderman of Margate. She earns more than $15,000 but not enough to easily pay out-of-pocket for her medications. ``If I sign up, will I be paying for others who have less money? I'm not sure I want to do that.''
No one is forced to enroll in the program, but premiums will increase by 1 percent a month after the May 2006 enrollment deadline.
Schneiderman and her five girlfriends huddled after Leavitt's visit.
The women said they drove in Monday's heavy rain because they thought they were going to hear specific details about the program.
''This is complicated and, believe me, it's going to take all of us to figure it out,'' said Shirley Sweet, a 76-year-old Margate widow who pays $400 a month for drugs to treat a lung condition.
''There's no doubt that there's a better way,'' said Robert Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, the nation's oldest and largest Medicare advocacy group.
Hayes is critical of the new program, saying private insurers might remove coverage of certain medications without warning.
Karr said that won't happen. Companies will have to ask the government's permission -- through a lengthy review process -- if they want to drop medications.
''It won't be done willy-nilly like that,'' said Karr.
Hayes also is concerned that on Oct. 1, when insurance companies can begin a media blitz to reach eligible participants, Florida's seniors will be flooded with telemarketers pushing their plans. It's illegal for a company to actually enroll anyone over the phone.
'I would say, `Just ask questions and talk to your doctor before enrolling in any plan,' '' said Hayes.
Source: Sun Sentinel
Senior Citizen Aticles | Senior Drug Plan
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