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Group: Needy not getting drug help

By CURTIS KRUEGER and ANITA KUMAR
Published May 10, 2006

The federal government's new prescription drug plan is designed to give extra help to some of America's poorest senior citizens by allowing them to receive their medicine without using all their cash paying deductibles and premiums.

About 24 percent of the 7.2-million people eligible have signed up for the extra subsidies designed for low-income people, a consumer advocacy group called Families USA said in a study it released Tuesday.

In Florida, fewer of the needy are signing up for the subsidies - 19 percent of an estimated 542,000. Only six states had a lower percentage.

"It's horrendous,'' said Ron Pollack, Families USA executive director. "The participation level is horrific.''

Pollack said President Bush sold the Part D program to Congress and the public partly by saying it would help low-income seniors.

"Clearly, they have failed to achieve that goal,'' he said. "That statement is far more rhetoric than reality.''

The subsidies are designed for people whose incomes and assets are low but who do not receive Medicaid, the medical program for low-income people. People who qualify for the subsidies pay reduced premiums and deductibles.

But the White House said only 3-million low-income people failed to sign up for the extra benefits, a lower number than the consumer group calculated. And it said the administration has worked to encourage more people to sign up by announcing last month that it would waive late penalties for low-income people who fail to meet Monday's application deadline.

Bob Archer, who has worked in Pinellas and Pasco counties to spread the word about the subsidies, said: "It's a humongous education job.''

Several factors make it difficult to reach some seniors, Archer said. Some women are widows whose husbands made all the financial plans, and they don't feel comfortable sorting out the options, he said. Others don't have computer access and throw away mail that looks like junk. He has given countless talks to seniors, but if the goal is to get every single person to participate, "it's not doable,'' said Archer, a coordinator for SHINE, a program affiliated with the state Department of Elder Affairs.

In Citrus County, volunteer SHINE counselor Harvey Roberts said he's not sure the number of eligible people who fail to sign up is so high. He said he speaks to many whose income is low enough for them to qualify but whose assets are too high.

Roberts said he spoke to a woman whose income was only $600 a month, but she had a small piece of property she wasn't ready to sell, so she didn't qualify for the program.

Seniors qualify for the extra subsidies if they earn less than $14,355 as an individual or $19,245 for a married couple, a Medicare spokesman said. They also must have less than $11,500 in assets as an individual or $23,000 as a couple.

Roberts said a related problem is that pharmaceutical companies are phasing out some programs in which they give away drugs to needy people for free because of the new Part D program.

He spoke to a man who is losing $700 a month in free medicine but whose income is slightly too high for him to receive Part D.

Curtis Krueger can be reached at ckrueger@sptimes.com or 727 893-8232.

[Last modified May 10, 2006, 07:07:04]