US retirees still wary of Medicare drug plan
Most older Americans say they still do not understand how Medicare’s new prescription drug coverage will work and they are split over whether it will be worthwhile, a study released on Thursday found.
In a Kaiser Family Foundation survey of people aged 65 and up, 60 percent said they did not understand the new benefit, which opens for enrollment in November and is scheduled to start in January.
Nearly one-third said they did not know or could not answer whether they had to sign up for drug coverage or would be automatically enrolled. Forty-four percent said they had not received any information about the benefit, according to the telephone survey.
The poll also found about 32 percent of old Americans had a “favorable” opinion about the benefit, up from 17 percent six months ago. Another 32 percent said their view was “unfavorable,” down from 55 percent in February. The rest either were neutral or unsure.
Officials for the nation’s insurance program for the elderly and disabled plan to announce in September which insurance companies, retailers and other health-related firms will offer plans. Companies can start marketing them in October, and beneficiaries can sign up starting November 15.
Most patients will have to enroll for the voluntary coverage. Those who also qualify for Medicaid, the government’s insurance program for the poor, are supposed to be automatically signed up.
Medicare officials and members of Congress have spent the summer touring the country to promote the coverage.
Slightly more of those polled said they now understood the benefit. Twenty-four percent told researchers in early August they understood it “somewhat well” and 13 percent “very well,” up from 18 percent and 11 percent, respectively, in April.
More also said they would enroll—22 percent in August compared with 9 percent in April. Forty percent said they still were not sure.
Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman said, “It will take several years before we see how well beneficiaries navigate the new system and how satisfied they are with it.”
Medicare officials, acknowledging the elderly may have trouble navigating how the plan works, have tried reaching out to family members and others to learn about the coverage.
Of 905 adults aged 18 to 64 whom Kaiser surveyed, 68 percent said they did not understand the plan, compared with 29 percent who did. Nearly all of the elderly surveyed said they were unaware of friends or relatives seeking information on their behalf.
The survey, part of a Kaiser series, was conducted August 4 to 8. It had a margin of error of 6 percentage points among seniors and 3 percentage points for all adults.
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