Seniors get guidance on Medicare drug plan
By STEPHEN NOHLGREN, Times Staff Writer
GULFPORT - A senior center normally devoted to bridge, tai chi and begining Italian resembled a political campaign stop Tuesday, as President Bush dispatched his top health adviser to Florida to preach about Medicare's new prescription drug coverage.
People on Medicare won't face hard choices about drug coverage until October or November, when the program's details become more clear. They can start receiving benefits Jan. 1.
In the meantime, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt has kicked off a summer's worth of news conferences and staged events to publicize the new era.
The new drug benefit promises to be complex.
"You need to learn about it yourself and then talk to neighbors about it," Leavitt said as cameras rolled and clicked. "We need to reach everyone."
Leavitt arrived at the Gulfport Multipurpose Senior Center on a gigantic bus, decorated with a vibrant mural of smiling, older faces, a Medicare logo and a Web site address. His entourage included U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Indian Shores, various state officials, and a half dozen aides and security people.
Inside, Leavitt worked a crowd of about 150 seniors, many of whom had come for regularly scheduled events but stayed when they discovered that a dignitary was in town. They sat in metal chairs in a circle while Leavitt held the center with a wireless microphone, occasionally irritating one woman when he turned his back to address people across from her.
The drug benefit will save people money, especially those with low incomes who can get help with premiums, deductibles and copayments, Leavitt said.
"We have had people who had to decide whether to buy prescription drugs or pay light bills," he said. "No more."
Passed in December 2003, the Medicare Part D drug benefit was a political coup for Bush. Critics contend that the benefit is too puny and too complicated to understand and that it favors drug manufacturers over consumers. But even those critics acknowledge that most people on Medicare are probably better off with the plan than without it.
With a few exceptions, even healthy people should probably sign up for a drug plan later this year, said Bob Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, which advocates for broader benefits. People who delay signing up will face higher costs if they try to get into the program later.
"This is an insurance plan," Hayes said. "People happily pay fire insurance even if they never need it."
Alta Spearman, 65, of St. Petersburg, said she wasn't sure what Tuesday's program was all about. She and friends came to the center for lunch and stayed to hear Leavitt.
But she knows she doesn't like paying about $225 a month for three prescriptions.
"I always thought that when I got on Medicare it would pretty much give the things I need," Spearman said. "But I'm always angry when I go for my medicine."
"Why doesn't Medicare pay" for drugs? she asked Leavitt.
"This is the conversation we need to have with every American," he responded. "They need to understand."
Leavitt said he and other administration officials plan similar events "at just about every senior-intense area of the country." He said they expect about three-quarters of the older and disabled people on Medicare to sign up by the end of 2006.
Source: Saint Petersburg Times
Senior Citizen Aticles | Medicare Drug Plan
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