WASHINGTON – The new Medicare prescription drug plan that goes into operation in January is one of the most complicated federal benefits ever devised, and senior citizens by the tens of thousands have been shying away from signing up. But not to worry, federal officials say, they’ve developed a new system called Plan Finder to make everything simpler, a kind of magic decoder ring to melt away the confusion and help seniors save money.
There’s just one catch: The new system is designed for people who have no problem getting onto the Internet via computer – something fewer than one-third of all elderly Americans have ever done.
If navigating the Internet is not challenge enough, those who get to the Medicare.gov Web site must type and mouse-click their way through screen after screen of questions, boxes to check, options and choices.
They must feed in personal information about themselves, the drugs they take, and the pharmacy they use. Only then will they get a personalized list of available plans, with their main characteristics spelled out and their costs ranked from lowest to highest. That, experts agree, is where the real comparison shopping should begin.
To computer wizards, or the Xbox Generation grandchildren of today’s senior citizens, all this would be child’s play. “It’s neat – it’s well done,” said 35-year-old Susannah Fox, associate director of the Pew Internet &American Life Project.
But the aging, computer-challenged customers Plan Finder is intended to help might disagree.
“For someone who is computer savvy, I would probably give (Plan Finder) a ‘B,’” said Marlene Eskin of Austin, Texas, who is 70 and works as a marketing consultant. “For the audience they are directing it to, the majority of whom may not even have a computer, I would give it a ‘D.’ I think that’s the group it needs to work for.”
The Medicare prescription benefit’s complexities have discouraged so many senior citizens from signing up thus far that the success of the overall plan is in doubt. If Plan Finder or something like it does not change that situation, the result could be a major setback in the quest for improved health care.
And the problems with Plan Finder seem to range from its technical difficulties to cultural disconnects between its designers, who are comfortable with the conventions of the online world, and its intended users, who frequently are not.
Muriel Bennett, for example, is a retired small business owner from New York who uses the Internet to look up book and theater reviews and to research medical topics. But the prospect of plugging private information such as her Social Security number into Plan Finder leaves her cold.
“I don’t like putting any personal information in,” said Bennett, who is in her 80s. “I have never put in my credit card number. And I’d sooner put my credit card number in than my Social Security number.”
Recent surveys show that 23 percent to 30 percent of seniors go online, compared with more than 70 percent of all Americans. Like Bennett, many of those seniors tend to be cautious about feeding personal data into an electronic system they don’t fully understand or trust.
Margaret Dowling, 65, of Pittsburg, Calif., had another problem: seeing letters and numbers in drop-down boxes on the Web site, which seniors must use to enter their Medicare eligibility data. Even using an optional magnification feature, she still had trouble. “Don’t you think it should be accessible to everyone?” she asked.
And for many seniors who need the new prescription drug plan most, those in frail health with serious medical problems, just gaining access to a computer and manipulating its keyboard and mouse systems might be difficult, if not impossible.
Federal officials say the Medicare prescription plan is a good deal because the government will pay about half of the typical beneficiary’s costs.
“The Plan Finder is the best and only available tool (to pick a plan),” said James Firman, of the National Council on the Aging. “It’s very difficult to do this without the (Internet) tool because of the number of nuances in the decision. The (computerized) tools are smarter than the individual.”
Plan Finder offers seniors more powerful technology than most working-age people have when shopping for health insurance, said Mary Agnes Laureno, director of beneficiary information services for Medicare. Plan Finder “is pretty unique – we are pricing even down to the pharmacy of your choice,” Laureno said. “Even if only 25 percent of seniors are actively using the Internet, that is still 11 million people, and that is a lot of people.”
Government officials point out that the Internet is not the only way to access Plan Finder. Seniors can call 800-633-4227, where a benefits agent will use Plan Finder for them and mail them a printout. So far, the average time on hold for people calling is less than two minutes, five minutes during peak hours in the evening, Laureno said.
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