Sign-ups start for new drug discount card

YORKVILLE, Ill. -- Norma Yeates, looking for a way to shave her husband's $385-a-month prescription drug bill, learned she has a lot of homework ahead before signing up for one of the new Medicare discount cards.

As the Bush administration heralded the opening of enrollment for the cards on Monday, it added a cautionary note to Yeates and others: Don't sign up just yet.

Yeates, 70, walked away with a thick stack of brochures describing her choices after she and 200 other elderly patients met at a forum here with House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Medicare chief Mark McClellan. Her next move is to draw up a detailed chart to help figure out which one of 47 discount cards will save the Naperville, Ill., couple the most money.

"I think most seniors will at first say, 'Oh, I can't do this.' But when they sit down, they can do it," Yeates said. "We've been grocery shoppers all our lives, we've bought car insurance. This is just a new wrinkle."

The cards, which cannot be used until June 1, are designed to deliver savings on seniors' monthly drug bills by encouraging competition among pharmacies, insurance companies and drug companies. Some critics have questioned whether savings will be significant.

The forum at the Kendall County Senior Center was sponsored by Rep. Hastert, R-Ill. Hastert, McClellan, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and other Republican lawmakers and administration officials fanned out across the country Monday to promote the new cards, the first widely available benefit from the Medicare prescription drug law enacted last year.

'A giant step forward'At an event in Washington, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson called the cards "a giant step forward on the road to savings," especially for low-income older and disabled Americans who qualify for a $600 subsidy.

Thompson predicted that card sponsors and pharmaceutical companies will be watching Medicare's new prescription price comparison Web site and will lower prices to attract Medicare recipients. "They are going to be very, very cognizant of what other people are charging," he said.

Enrollment forms are available from card sponsors, Medicare and some pharmacies.

Acknowledging there will be "a few bumps in the road," Thompson encouraged people to compare prices for a couple of weeks before signing up for one of 40 national and 33 regional cards. Once enrolled, people cannot change cards until the end of the year.

The sign-up period began as some card sponsors complained about pricing errors first identified last week. Thompson insisted the prices on Medicare's site are correct. But the Medicare site and some card Web sites returned different prices Monday for identical drugs, dosages and pharmacies.

For more information, call (800) MEDICARE or visit www. medicare.gov.