Workshop translates Medicare for seniors

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, November 30, 2005

LYNNWOOD – Some seniors may share the worries of Oi Lutse, who lives in Mukilteo after immigrating eight years ago from Hong Kong.

Kevin Nortz / The Herald Korean interpreters Jennifer Yang (far right) and Sue Kim (center), with the help of Angela Kim (center left), explain Medicare prescription options to Bong-Goo Cho (center right) and his wife, In-Hie Hwang, on Wednesday at the Lynnwood Convention Center.

“Too much to pay,” she said after looking over a printout of how much she and her husband would have to spend under the new Medicare prescription drug program, which kicks off in January.

Lutse and her husband could end up paying about $20 a month for their current prescriptions, said James Pham, local help line coordinator for the Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors, which is providing help to seniors on the program.

For people on fixed incomes, he said, it can seem like a lot of money.

Pham was one of the specialists at the Lynnwood Convention Center on Wednesday who were typing seniors’ prescription drug information into a computer. It searched among the prescription insurance programs being offered in Washington for the best match.

The prescription programs differ in the amount of monthly payments seniors are required to make, which medications they include, deductibles, and which pharmacies consumers can use.

The workshop was a chance for more than 200 seniors to get help with their questions and to sign up for the new prescription plan, known as Medicare Part D.

A special effort was made to get seniors who are ethnic minorities to the event. Translators were on hand to help explain the ins and outs of the program in Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese.

It’s thought to be the first such multicultural workshop in the Puget Sound region since sign-ups for the prescription drug plan began in mid-November.

Sylvia Jun, who was helping translate, said many seniors find the new program “kind of confusing.”

Yet, Jack McCaul of Edmonds left his advisory session smiling. “Pretty good, so far,” he said of what he had learned. “At least for the present, I’ve got enough information, more than when I came in.”

He was given choices of a $12 a month plan with no deductible and a $6 a month plan with a $250 deductible. “I think there will be a good outcome,” he said.

Kay Crymes of Lynnwood said she came to the workshop to get more information. Like any kind of insurance, she said, “you have to really think about it” to figure out your needs.

“I’m lucky,” she said. “I’m healthy and don’t have a lot of medications.”

Bong-Goo Cho, who lives with his wife in Everett, hadn’t signed up for Medicare, so he didn’t qualify for the prescription drug benefit, but may qualify in the future.

Nevertheless, the Korean immigrant said he was thankful to be in America, where he had been successfully treated for stomach cancer. “What a great country,” he said. “Thank you for everything.”

Iona Pilker of Lynnwood, asked what she thought of the new prescription plan, said, “Very, let’s say frustrated.”

She retired from a job as Safeway checker in 1989 and her husband, Lee, retired from his job as a custodian at the University of Washington in 1980.

Iona Pilker said she tried to do some homework before Wednesday’s workshop, reading information at local pharmacies and listening to the television.

“Mostly you don’t understand it,” Lee Pilker said.

About 45 minutes later, they left their information session with a printout showing several choices of prescription plans. They will likely each pay about $691 a year for the prescription insurance.

“We got the best three, and we will make our minds up,” Lee Pilker said.

Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@ heraldnet.com.