Medicare to launch drug-card campaign

Starting Thursday, senior citizens can get information on options

? Every low-income Medicare beneficiary who qualifies should sign up for a Medicare-approved drug discount card, which provides $600 in government aid to buy prescription medicines.

For everyone else, the decision to buy a discount card — and which one — is not so simple.

Beginning Thursday, the Medicare Web site will provide drug price comparisons and tell Medicare recipients where they can use the various cards. The same information will be available from operators at (800) MEDICARE

Enrollment begins next week, and the cards can be used starting in June.

The Bush administration is set to launch its second round of Medicare advertising in coming weeks, having been stung by criticism that its first installment was political and not very informative. Companies can start marketing the drug cards in May.

For low-income people who are not already receiving Medicaid, the decision to get a card is easy. It won’t cost anything and it comes with $600 to spend on prescription drugs this year and another $600 in 2005.

Which card to pick is another matter.

Even seasoned counselors are struggling to come up with easy-to-understand answers for Medicare recipients of all incomes. Several groups that advocate for older people as well as state health insurance assistance programs are offering help.

“We are struggling with how to spend less than an hour of a counselor’s time helping someone make a decision,” said Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center in New York. “It may well be that there is no reasonable process to make an informed decision given the complexity of the market.”

Although Medicare announced in March that 28 companies had been approved to offer discount cards, that number has risen. There are now 36 national cards and an additional 35 that can be used in different parts of the country.

The cards, which will cost up to $30, may offer discounts on different drugs and in differing amounts, although at least one drug in each of 209 categories must be included. Different pharmacies will accept different cards.

“Companies will set the conditions for their cards’ use. For example, they may say, ‘We’ll give you a break on Lipitor, but only if you buy it at Walgreens,”‘ Mariette Klein, AARP’s associate director for Virginia, said at a recent information session attended by 150 people in Manassas, Va.

Medicare officials say they are confident that the price comparison Web site and telephone help will enable older and disabled Americans to sort it all out.

“Seniors should call 1-800-MEDICARE or go to Medicare.com to shop and compare,” said Dr. Mark McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. McClellan said people could sign up for a card right away or wait a few weeks since the cards can’t be used until June.

At least one Medicare official, however, suggested waiting, noting that the government was still considering approving more cards and that once enrolled, people have to stick with one card until the end of the year.

AARP’s Klein also suggested waiting. “I caution you about jumping on the first offering you get,” she said.

Medicare recipients who already have prescription drug coverage through former employers or state plans probably will not find the cards worthwhile, government officials and health care analysts say.

The government estimates that more than 7 million people, most of them now without prescription drug insurance, will sign up for cards. More than 4 million people are expected to qualify for the low-income subsidy.