CONSUMER NEWS RECALLS COMPLAINT FORM SCAM ALERTS
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CONSUMER NEWS RECALLS COMPLAINT FORM SCAM ALERTS |
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Medicare Discount Cards Still Frustrating |
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May 26, 2004
In a recent front-page story, Washington Post health reporter Lisa Barrett Mann detailed her experience researching a card for her 82-year-old mother. Throughout the 9 hours it took her to study her options she found she was no closer to selecting a card than when she started. She found communication gaps between Medicare, drug card sponsors and participating pharmacies as well as hidden prices, missing drugs and conflicting answers between Medicare's website and hotline. In Baton Rouge, The Advocate profiled Patricia Taylor, who said she felt like she was cramming for a test as she took an online tutorial on the drug cards. Taylor, the assistant executive director of the East Baton Rouge Parish Council on Aging, received a packet in the mail of 76 things she needs to know about the new cards. She read through the questions and then logged onto the Internet for more training. Senior citizens, she said, are confused about the cards, especially the $600 credit available to low income recipients. "A lot of seniors feel like they're going to get $600 up front and that's really not the case," Taylor said. A report issued by the Medicare Rights Center recommends that Medicare automatically enroll low-income families who qualify for the $600 credit, to ensure they don't miss out by failing to apply. The credit only applies to single seniors who earn less than $12,569 or married couples who earn less than $16,862. The credit is placed on a card and rolls over at the end of the year. The cards offer discounts of 15 percent to 20 percent on certain drugs. Because Medicare is endorsing rather than issuing the cards, there are a myriad of choices with different companies offering different discounts on different drugs. The cards can't cost more than $30; the catch is: recipients can only choose one card. Millions of seniors have inundated the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Web site and toll-free line as they try to make sense of the program, which even experts find confusing. The Web site has recorded more than 7 million hits and the toll-free line has logged 1.6 million calls, 10 times more than usual, despite an increased number of Medicare operators, according to the Wall Street Journal. It has been estimated that explaining how the cards work requires an average of 2.4 hours. "It's become apparent that what these cards guarantee is 100% confusion," said Ruben Burks, secretary-treasurer of the Alliance of Retired Americans. "Seniors should not have to subject themselves to an endless maze of confusion and dead-ends only to end up with paltry savings. They need real relief from drug prices." |
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