Healthy Living

We'll help you figure out whether the Medicare discount card is right for you

11:00 PM CDT on Monday, May 24, 2004

By MICHAEL PRECKER / The Dallas Morning News

The new Medicare prescription drug discount cards are a temporary measure. The program can be complicated and confusing, and many seniors don't need it at all.

But if you – or people you care about – are eligible for the card, you should check it out. First, don't be nervous. The cards can be used beginning June 1, but there is no deadline for applying. Take your time and sort through the options – and don't feel bad, because many professionals are doing the same as Medicare works out the kinks in the system.

"We haven't started helping people yet," says Carolyn Toliver, benefits counseling coordinator at the Dallas Area Agency on Aging, which provides social services to seniors.

"We just don't have the information; things are still changing, and we don't want to jump the gun."

Second, figure out whether the new card will help you. The discount card – actually, there are dozens of them – is part of a prescription drug benefit program for senior citizens enacted by Congress last year. Medicare officials say the card, which costs up to $30 a year, can provide significant savings on prescription drugs.

Seniors whose income is less than $12,569 for a single person or $16,862 for a couple qualify for an additional benefit – a $600 per year credit that the discount card company will deduct from drug purchases until it is used up.

Kathryn Gohman, who runs a business advising people on how to get the most out of their health-care benefits, says many people are getting a bad first impression of the program.

"There's a lot of negative publicity, that it's confusing and it's not worth it," says Ms. Gohman, who lives in Allen. "But it's a good thing."

Ms. Gohman says she analyzed the prescription costs for her parents, who have no other drug coverage and now pay about $2,400 per month. She figures the card will cut about $500 from that total, and she plans to sign them up soon.

"For people who have nothing else, it's going to save money," she says.

Generally, the card program is aimed at seniors who now pay full price for their prescriptions.

That means people who have Medicaid or private insurance coverage – and get medications free or with a co-pay that covers part of the total cost – probably won't need one.

But Ms. Gohman says the card still could help people whose insurance coverage has an annual limit and who must pay the full cost once that limit is reached.

"It all depends on your coverage and your mix of prescriptions," she says. "And I think it's going to get better once it gets going and there's more competition."

There's plenty of competition already. Many seniors already have discount cards not connected to the Medicare program. Charles Burnett, senior vice president at Costco, says he looked at the Medicare card options "and most of our prices are already below what most of the cards call for."

But there is no simple answer and no way to know without calculating each individual's situation. In the box on Page 1E, we've listed the steps to help you start figuring it out.

Once you reach your own conclusion, here is yet another factor to ponder:

You will need to renew the card, with the same company or a different one, by Jan. 1, 2005. The entire program expires in 2006, when the new Medicare prescription coverage benefits kick in.

E-mail mprecker@dallasnews.com