For Seniors, 'D' Day Arrives

Last November, I asked you to help your parents or grandparents enroll in the new Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. You'll be paying for the plan through your future tax dollars, so you might as well help your loved ones participate!

Jan. 1 was "D" day for the 43 million senior citizens who qualify for the new prescription drug benefits. But by the end of 2005, only about 6 million or 7 million had actually been enrolled, with most of them joining through the "auto-enrollment" program that primarily took care of seniors who are also on Medicaid.

It's time to check to make sure the seniors in your family have signed up. They have until May 15 to pick a plan. After that, the monthly premiums will rise, and so will the aggravation.

The Jan. 1 launch came with mixed results. Medicare officials held a press conference late last week and faced a barrage of questioning by reporters from across the country, each telling horror stories of seniors who couldn't get their medicines and of pharmacists who waited on telephone lines for hours trying to get confirmations of eligibility.

Officials promised that glitches would be straightened out in a matter of days, and said new resources were being made available to pharmacists to check enrollments.

The entire process has been a difficult one, especially for seniors, who are understandably anxious about the changes. Seniors who enrolled in a plan received a letter of authorization. They must present that letter to the pharmacist, who uses that information to bill the correct plan.

But many low-income seniors were automatically enrolled in one of their state's plans. Some didn't understand the process -- or never received the letter of authorization.

Pharmacists had problems, too. The government is keeping a computerized database of those who have signed up for plans. If the senior doesn't present a card or an acknowledgement letter, pharmacists must make calls to cross-check the database to see which plan the senior is enrolled in before dispensing prescriptions.