BANGOR (AP) – Maine’s low-income seniors could save an average of $1,396 a year by signing up for the new Medicare prescription drug coverage, according to a study.

The study conducted for a group trying to educate seniors about the new Medicare initiative that goes into effect in November indicates the average low-income senior citizen in Maine spends $1,566 out of pocket per year for prescription drugs.

Medicare would pick up the tab for all but $170 dollars, the study said. On average, all Maine seniors currently spend about $1,465 per year on drugs and would save $649.

The study was conducted by financial analysts at PricewaterhouseCoopers for Medicare Today, a nonpartisan group with a mission of educating Medicare beneficiaries and others about the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003.

Stacie Sparkman, a Medicare specialist with the Eastern Agency on Aging in Bangor, welcomed efforts to educate her clients about the benefit.

Though she does hear some “guarded optimism” that the plan will be helpful, Sparkman said most seniors, as well as those who work with them, are discouraged and frustrated with the little they understand about the new benefit.

“It’s just mass confusion at this point,” she said. “They don’t understand why it’s so complicated and multi-layered.”

On Oct. 13, private pharmaceutical companies and other groups will unveil the plans they’ve been developing since the Medicare modernization act was passed. Seniors must choose between many different plans.

Sparkman said she’s aware of at least 15 plans that will be effective in Maine, but suspects there will be two or three times that many by the time enrollments open. Plans will vary by which drugs are covered and other options.

“Each and every person needs to be evaluated individually,” she stressed. Married couples should not assume that one plan is right for both husband and wife, she noted, and seniors should not choose a plan based on the promise of a simple enrollment process, since plans vary so widely.

At the University of Maine’s Center on Aging, Director Lenard Kaye said the Medicare drug benefit is full of problems. While it will make life easier for some older Mainers, he said, the savings for others will be “insignificant or nil.”

“With or without the Medicare prescription drug act, drugs remain unbearably expensive,” Kaye said. “The entire issue is overwhelmingly complicated, and elders are trapped.”

On the Net:

Medicare Today

www.medicaretoday.org

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