by
AMB: Chatty senior cafeteria din.
N1:
It's lunchtime at the Elmhurst/Jackson Heights Senior Center. More than two hundred people are in the cafeteria. They talk about the weather. And flu shots. But not Medicare. And not Part D, though registration for the new prescription plan begins next month. One of the seniors here is retired teacher Irving Freilich.
AX: FREILICHNO
I never heard of Part D. D like in David?
N:
Few seem to know about Part D yet . . . even though it's been in the works since 2003 . . . when Congress passed a law creating prescription drug coverage for all people with Medicare. Since May this year, New York's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has sponsored over one hundred outreach programs at senior centers . . . including this one. Seniors have also been mailed eligibility letters. But the 73-year-old Freilich has his own thoughts about all the information.
AX: FREILICH
Cut to the chase. Get to what it's really all about. I don't like to go through a whole page of reading. Just give me the simple facts as clear as possible.
N:Medicare spokesman Jeff Hall says making things simple and clear is just what the agency has been trying to do.
AX: HALLWELL
I think that a lot of seniors are not informed that there is help out there. And rather than just open an information packet or enrollment form and say, "I'm not going to join because it's just too complex," there are resources in the community that every senior can turn to to definitely help them.
N:One resource is this senior center itself. Next door to the cafeteria, workers have set up three brand-new computers . . . gifts from Medicare. They will use them to get information online and walk seniors through finding the best plan for them. But even though the help is there now, case worker Ana Berroa says she doesn't expect seniors to pay attention until Part D goes into effect in January.
AX: BERROA
It doesn't matter how much mail they receive, doesn't matter anything, only when the action takes care [sic]. "Okay, I cannot sell you medication"—ooh, why didn't you tell me anything?
N:Luckily, not everyone will have that problem. Low-income seniors who already receive prescription benefits under Medicaid will be enrolled automatically in Part D. But for the rest, Hall says it's vital to sign up before May next year.
AX: HALL
Otherwise they're going to have to pay a penalty, and the premium costs will go up at least 1% per month for every month they wait to join.
N:It's a message the government hopes seniors will hear. For Columbia Radio News, I'm Derek Tang.