Monday is the last day to enroll in Medicare part D. Have you or your loved ones signed up?
On Wednesday the bush administration said that about 37 million Medicare beneficiaries now have prescription drug coverage. That leaves around six million of the total 43 million who are eligible left who have not signed up.
And the government is pushing hard to get these holdouts enrolled—like 65 year old Henry Bowens waited to nearly the last minute to sign up for the new Medicare part D drug plan.
“I just heard it, I didn’t know nothing about it until I saw it on the TV,” says Henry.
77 year old Nora was a true procrastinator. She says, “I’m on dialysis three days a week. By the time I do my laundry and have time to take care of myself, I just let it go.”
While Monday is the last chance in a sense, you can still join a plan after May 15. But you will pay a higher monthly cost.
The penalty actually isn’t that much. It’s 1% of the average premium nationwide for each month that you’re not covered. And that’s about 3 dollars a year. But the longer you wait, the more it’s going to cost you.
There are resources on medicare.gov, the website for Medicare.
But the big criticism is that older individuals are not internet savvy.
Robert Hayes, President of the Medicare Rights Center, says, “The oldest people, the frailest people, the neediest people tend to be the less equipped to navigate complicated bureaucracies; probably in the history of domestic government programs there has been no program as complicated as this.”
So, the national council on aging has set up an on-line and live program called my Medicare matters--and there are centers like this one nationwide to help in a one on one way those who have waited until the last minute.
“By putting in a senior’s individual information we are actually able to filter through and get the best plans for them. The plans that are most economical for them, that cover the majority of their prescriptions and are serviced in their area,” says Kathy Kuzma, a My Medicare Matters counselor.
Carlos Juan Lopez, Director of the Leonardo Covello Senior Center in Harlem, says, “Yesterday one of the clients had 35 medications and he paid around 250 dollars...cash. So we find a plan for him, he only pay 50. He’s saving money.”
So seniors should take advantage of programs like my Medicare matters now. Because after Monday, the program is gone.
And that leaves the question, then what?
“This has been a crazy quilt industry that sprung up, very few people where able to do much more than shoot in the dark to find a plan,” says Mr. Hayes.
“Unless they have access to a computer or have children or family members or someone who can help them it would be very difficult not only for them to initially enroll but on an ongoing basis they have the best coverage for them,” adds Ms. Kuzma.
While the costs and the benefits differ depending from person to person, on average a participant will save about $1,100 a year on his or her medicine.