Millions of Seniors and People with Disabilities Will Miss Out on Significant Cost Savings, and Be Forced to Wait Until 2007 for Coverage Unless They Take Action Now; Their Children and Grandchildren Must Help Them Get Information and Make Decisions. With the initial open enrollment deadline period for the new Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage ending in just over a month, and millions of eligible beneficiaries yet to enroll, one of the leading national grassroots education programs has announced a redoubling of its on-the-ground efforts – and is issuing a call to action to the Baby Boom generation.

James Firman, president of the National Council on Aging, one of the co- sponsors of My Medicare Matters(TM), said today, “There are only a few weeks left for most beneficiaries to enroll in Medicare’s prescription drug coverage for this year, and we know that they urgently need accurate and unbiased information now more than ever before. So it’s absolutely essential that adult ‘boomers’ who have parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends and neighbors help them get that information.”

My Medicare Matters is ramping up its already extensive efforts in the countdown to May 15, and will be in communities from coast to coast, right up until the deadline, conducting more than 1,000 educational events, doubling neighborhood outreach efforts, providing laptops with educational software so community organizations can assist beneficiaries, and recruiting families to help, because, Firman noted, “It’s so important that people understand how the new coverage can help them.”

Firman noted that while new data shows that the cost savings for persons with the new coverage are significant – up to 50% for some individuals, or an average of $1,100 annual cost savings, with some reporting savings as high as $5,000 to $10,000 a year – too many beneficiaries are still delaying action. Some cite confusion or lack of information, but a new survey conducted by Medicare Today found that the vast majority of those who have actually enrolled found the process easier than they expected.

“If confusion or misperceptions are the only things keeping beneficiaries from taking advantage of this coverage, then it’s up to those of us who can help them to get involved now, while there’s still time for them to learn about their options and make informed decisions,” said Firman.

Firman noted that “The real decision for Medicare beneficiaries is whether or not to sign up for an insurance policy that is heavily subsidized by the federal government. If people sign up for any of the Medicare-approved plans, the government will pay $1,100 per year on their behalf and, more importantly, they will have insurance coverage this year should they get sick and require expensive medicines. If people don’t sign up between now and May 15, the government won’t make any payments on their behalf and, even if they get sick and need expensive medicines, they won’t be able to get coverage before January 2007 at the earliest.”

My Medicare Matters, which is co-sponsored by the Access to Benefits Coalition and supported by a grant from AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, has teams of trained educators equipped with the latest in wireless technology, working in 39 metro areas from coast to coast. The teams have worked one-on- one with people with Medicare at education events since December and will remain in their communities until May 15. “We are out there daily, working with more than 75,000 beneficiaries to date, and we know that with objective, unbiased information that we provide to people with Medicare, they are able to understand their choices and make the right decision for them,” said Wendy Zenker, who heads up the program for NCOA and ABC.

“We are expanding our efforts in a number of ways at the grassroots level, and we need children and grandchildren of beneficiaries to work with us to get their loved ones to come to us for education,” she noted. “More than 90 percent of people who have worked with educators at our events have said they would recommend our program to their family and friends, and that the information we provided to them has helped them understand their options and prepared them to make their own decision about enrollment. Information does make a difference.”

She also noted that “We can work directly with the children and grandchildren if they’d like to come to an educational event. Or they can use the tools on our website, http://www.MyMedicareMatters.org, so that they can sit down and guide their loved one through the process.” To date the website has had more than 2.5 million hits, and nearly 80 percent of site users say they would recommend it to a family member of friend, with 72 percent saying their experience using the site and its tools was good and helped them get information they needed.

Zenker said that My Medicare Matters(TM) educators will be available at more than 1,000 events from today through May 15, working with national organizations such as the National Alliance for Hispanic Health and the Auxiliary of the National Medical Association, as well as senior centers, YMCA’s and libraries, supermarkets and retail stores, and nonprofit organizations in the community.

In addition the program has added nearly 40 community outreach team members who will be personally going out into neighborhood churches, synagogues and mosques; grocery and other retail stores; beauty salons and strip malls, and many other neighborhood locations, to leave materials about access to information via My Medicare Matters(TM) educational events and the website. “We are more than doubling our outreach at the neighborhood level, in cities from Boston to Miami to Minneapolis to Los Angeles, to get information out to beneficiaries and their families.”

One important message, according to Zenker, is that if people miss the May 15 deadline, it’s not simply a matter of enrolling a few weeks later. In fact, once May 15 passes, the next enrollment period is not until November, and coverage won’t begin until January 2007 – and then enrollees will pay higher premiums than those who enroll by the May deadline.

She said that NCOA applauds the recently-announced decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to extend the enrollment deadline for beneficiaries with limited means who may qualify for the Limited Income Subsidy/Extra Help program. CMS has established a special enrollment period that will permit them to apply for Extra Help, and if determined eligible, receive that benefit and enroll in a plan after May 15. NCOA and ABC will continue to work aggressively to reach out to and assist Medicare beneficiaries with limited means after May 15.

She said that My Medicare Matters also is donating more than 700 wireless laptop computers (preloaded with the software programs that My Medicare Matters educators are using) to community-based organizations to use for their own grassroots education and enrollment activities. These laptops will be used to help all beneficiaries during the final weeks of the enrollment phase, and especially to help counsel applicants for the limited income subsidy after May 15.

“Basically, our program managers and educators are not willing to let the deadline pass without doing everything in our power to make sure that beneficiaries don’t just sit back and let the opportunity pass them by – but actually make a decision,” said Firman. “In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson, when signing the Medicare Extension Bill, called on ‘every good American’ to accept a personal challenge and take action to help older Americans take advantage of the new Medicare program. Now it’s up to us to do the same with the new prescription drug coverage.”

About My Medicare Matters(TM)
My Medicare Matters(TM) is a comprehensive community-based education program to help people with Medicare and their families understand the new Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage, assess their personal situation, understand their choices, compare plan options and make the enrollment decision that is right for their health and their financial situation. It is sponsored by the National Council on Aging and the Access to Benefits Coalition, with support from AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP. Listings of dates and locations of My Medicare Matters(TM) events, as well as online tools with information and answers to questions about the new Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage and how to enroll, are available at http://www.MyMedicareMatters.org and http://www.MiMedicareImporta.org.

About the National Council on Aging
Founded in 1950, The National Council on Aging is a national network of organizations and individuals dedicated to improving the health and independence of older persons and to increasing their continuing contributions to communities, society, and future generations. For more information on NCOA, visit http://www.ncoa.org.

About the Access to Benefits Coalition
The Access to Benefits Coalition (ABC) is dedicated to ensuring that Medicare beneficiaries with limited incomes know about and can make the best use of all available resources for reducing the costs of prescription drugs, including the Extra Help program available through the Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage.

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