Drug plan leaves seniors baffled
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
After listening to more than an hour of explanation about changes to the federal Medicare laws to help with the cost of prescription drugs, most of 30 Honolulu senior citizens gathered still had more questions than answers.
People with questions about the Medicare prescription drug program may call the SAGE Plus program, 586-7299 on O'ahu and toll-free from the Neighbor Islands at (888) 875-9229.
The Mo'ili'ili Community Center helped set up the meeting with U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie and Mary Rydell, local representative for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Abercrombie and Rydell brought their charts and enthusiasm, and members of the elder audience listened carefully.
For more information
But Abercrombie and Rydell said the new program is complex and confusing and requires people to look at their budgets to determine what they can afford to pay, even with the help of the changes crafted by Congress.
After the meeting, Abercrombie summed up his frustration with the complex bill portrayed as a big step forward in coping with rising healthcare costs, especially for senior citizens on fixed incomes.
Most senior citizens probably expect more help from the bill than it can deliver, Abercrombie said. "They think they're just going to show a card and get their medications for free — and that's not going to happen," he said.
Masao and Teruko Fujioka of Pu'unui asked what would happen to their current prescription drug coverage under a new government program. Abercrombie and Rydell said they couldn't predict whether companies that pay retiree prescription drug benefits would try to eliminate coverage once the government program begins.
The Fujiokas said the program would be difficult for most people to understand. "I'm very confused," Masao Fujioka said.
Abercrombie and Rydell focused on two parts of the program addressing the cost of prescription drugs for the elderly.
The first is a discount card that people probably will need to sign up for by May. It will cost $30 and offer discounts until the end of 2005.
The second part is more complicated. The much-debated Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit works like this:
- Participants pay a monthly premium of about $35.
- Seniors who decide to participate would need to sign up by a certain date (not set yet) to lock in that premium, or risk higher monthly fees if they sign up late.
- Seniors pay for the first $250 in prescription drug costs as a deductible.
- Then they pay one-fourth of the next $2,000 worth of prescription drug bills.
- They would pay all of the drug costs between $2,250 and $5,100, without any help from the program.
- Once their medication bill reached $5,100, the big assistance would kick in, and senior citizens would pay only 5 percent of their drug bills. Medicare would pay the rest.
Some senior citizens who meet low-income requirements could qualify for a discount or credit on some of those expenses, Abercrombie said.
Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
