Sue Green?s father is one of the lucky ones.
He is a 90-year-old resident of an assisted-living facility and his daughter works for the Baltimore County Department of Aging and is surroundedby Medicare experts everyday. Green said she enrolled her dad in the new prescription drug plan in November, well before Monday?s deadline.
“There is no way he could do it on his own,” Green said. “If I hadn?t done it, he wouldn?t have had it done.”
Seniors eligible for the new prescription coverage, known as Part D, had until Monday to sign up before higher premiums kick in. Premiums are expected to increase 1 percent every month after May, and enrollment won?t open again until November. Aging officials said many seniors relied on their children to explain the program and its caveats and make selections for them.
Baltimore County?s director of aging, Arnold Eppel, who revised a “Taking Care of Mom and Dad” video to include Part D explanations, said low attendance at last-minute workshops Monday could mean many seniors have already made their decisions, or are opting to find their own private coverage. He said he is confident the county met a goal of 70 percent enrollment in Part D or other coverage.
In Anne Arundel County, enrollment workshops since January helped officials avoid a “blitz,” said Susan Knight, the county?s coordinator for the statewide Senior Health Insurance Program. She said the county sent social workers into senior centers and low-income housing projects, and discharge planners into area hospitals to reach as many eligible seniors as possible. She said it takes a solid hour of one-on-one help to explain the program and its caveats.
“Our business obviously picked up in the last several weeks,” she said. “We were seeing as many people as we could serve with the amount of people working.”
There, Gambrills resident Ed Green said he helped his mother, 98, and father-in-law, 92, select their coverage choices. He attended a breakfast Monday organized by Rep. Ben Cardin, D-3rd, a candidate for U.S. Senate, who predicted that Congress would at least eliminate the penalties for those who had not chosen to participate by midnight Monday. Several politicians, including Senate candidate Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, called for an extension of the enrollment period.
About 182,000 Medicare-eligible seniors in Maryland did not have an identifiable source of creditable drug coverage as of May 7, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Drug program at a glance:
» All plans include a monthly premium.
» Most plans include a $250 deductible at the beginning of the year. Some plans have smaller or no deductibles.
» Plans save enrollees about 25 percent of drug costs, from $250 to $2,250.
» Once enrollees spend $2,250 in costs, they may pay 100 percent of costs until they reach $5,100.
» After enrollees spend $5,100 in drug costs, they pay only 5 percent of further drug costs.
» Single enrollees with income below $14,355 and resources below $11,500, or married with income below $19,245 and resources below $23,000 may qualify for extra help with premiums and other drug plan costs.
Source: Baltimore County Department of Aging
? Examiner Staff Writer Len Lazerick contributed to this report.
