Majority of seniors don’t understand new Part D Medicare program or plan to enroll
Most seniors don’t understand the newprescription-drug program being offered under Medicare and don’t planto sign up for coverage, even after months of salesmanship by the Bushadministration.
A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken last week shows37% say they understand the program at least somewhat well, but 61%don’t. Those figures haven’t changed much from polls in July and August.
Aboutone in four seniors, 24%, say they plan to join the program, comparedwith 54% who say they don’t. Twenty-two percent have no opinion. Thepoll of 275 adults age 65 and older has a margin of error of +/-7percentage points.
President Bush has touted the benefit atevents across the country. Outside groups such as the AARP, thenation’s largest advocacy group for seniors, have sponsored educationcampaigns. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services placed an adinsert explaining the program in the Sept. 25 edition of Parade, a Sunday newspaper supplement with a circulation of 34.5 million.
“The(poll) numbers suggest an abysmal program,” says Robert Hayes of theMedicare Rights Center, an advocacy group. “This benefit was designedto make it impossible for consumers to understand it.”