Applications going out for drug benefit

WASHINGTON – Millions of elderly or disabled Americans who may be entitled to financial help through Medicare’s new prescription drug benefit will receive applications for that assistance this month, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said Wednesday.

About 14 million people – a third of Medicare’s 43 million beneficiaries – are expected to be eligible for aid to reduce the program’s premiums, deductibles and co-payments, which can amount to hundreds of dollars a year. For the poorest beneficiaries, such assistance could cover nearly all of the costs, officials say.

But the government and advocates for the elderly are concerned that many people will fail to apply for financial help. Some may think their incomes are too high to qualify. Others may not want to fill out a six-page, 16-question application. And some may view the entire program – which requires them to select coverage from private plans under contract to the government – as too complicated to navigate.

“We are mounting an aggressive effort to find and reach those eligible,” Leavitt said. “Every eligible low-income person will be better off by enrolling.”

Under the drug plan, which takes effect Jan. 1, beneficiaries will pay the first $250 in costs, and Medicare will pay 75 percent of the next $2,000. Because of budget constraints, there will be no Medicare coverage for expenses between $2,250 and $5,100. Medicare will cover 95 percent of expenses above $5,100. Enrollment in the plan will begin Nov. 15.

To mount its current outreach effort, the government has enlisted the help of about 100 national organizations, including AARP, the American Medical Association and the National Council on the Aging.