KANSAS: Baffled Seniors Seek Drug-Card Guidance

The complicated Medicare system to help cover prescription costs offers a choice of 73 cards nationwide.

BY ALAN BJERGA - Eagle Washington bureau
The Wichita Eagle, KS - Tuesday, Jun 01, 2004

WASHINGTON - Christa Voth worked as a registered nurse at Wesley Medical Center for 17 years, but when it came time to
figure out which prescription drug card was best for her, she turned for help.

"I don't have a computer where I can use the Internet, so I went to the senior center" in Newton, said Voth, 66. There
she and a staff member went over her medications, compared card costs, and came up with a card they estimate will cut
her monthly prescription drug costs by about one-third once prescription drug cards go into effect nationwide today.

That's important for Voth, who suffers from Parkinson's.

"It's so hard to tell what's best," she said.

As seniors nationwide struggle with a new, complicated system of prescription drug discount cards under Medicare,
Kansans like Voth are turning to the phone, Internet and local sources for help.

Wichita area senior service agencies say they're seeing a heavy increase in questions from people about the new cards,
but that the volume of questions is manageable. Their main goal, representatives say, is to help seniors decide what
card they want from among the dozens available, if they want a card at all.

"People have a lot of options," said Susan Jackson, Harvey County coordinator for Senior Health Insurance Counseling of
Kansas, "but it's confusing.

"It's a very complicated system, and of all the people to give a complicated system, you give it to the people who
least want complications in their lives."

Prescription drug discount cards are the first phase in a comprehensive overhaul of Medicare passed in Congress in
November.

The cards, which are offered through private companies, promise savings on drugs for seniors under the Medicare
program. The abundance of cards -- there are 73 nationwide -- are meant to encourage competition among companies,
keeping costs under control.

They also introduce new levels of complexity that seniors can find bewildering.

"I think there are quite a few people who are just saying that's too complicated," said Debbie Rogers, director of the
Newton Area Senior Center, where Voth sought help.

Sometimes, she said, seniors come in, look at the cards, and find that their savings under them aren't significant.
That's been a controversial question. Although the drug card system was projected to save seniors about 17 percent on
their medications, drug inflation is threatening to wipe out any savings.

But then, she added, other people, like Voth, will get real savings from their cards. And the lowest-income seniors,
the ones who qualify for a annual $600 prescription drug credit, need to have a card to get the credit.

Generally, single people earning less than $12,569 a year or married couples with a combined income of less than
$16,862 are eligible for the $600 credit if they don't have other outpatient drug coverage.

Everyone eligible for a drug card should at least check into the potential savings, Rogers said.

But finding the right one is difficult. The government Web site, www.medicare.gov, offers step-by-step help in making
decisions, but many seniors aren't Internet users. The 1-800-MEDICARE number has been swamped in the past month,
leading to long delays and cut-off calls.

In response, the Senior Health Insurance Counselors for Kansas has set up its own number for people with questions at 1-
800-860-5260. That number takes calls from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. County extension offices also offer
assistance, as do senior centers.

Voth said she found the senior center helped her through the confusing change to getting her medicines.

"When I was younger I had insurance like Blue Cross/Blue Shield, where you paid $10 or $15 per prescription," she said.
"This is more difficult to understand.

"But if you can get a discount, why not take advantage of it?"

Reach Alan Bjerga at (202) 383-6055 or [log in to unmask]

SOURCE: The Wichita Eagle, KS - Tuesday, Jun 01, 2004
http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/news/local/8806325.htm

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