Drug Plan Mysteries Draw Convention Center Crowds
By Melanie Markley, Houston Chronicle
Jan. 29–Sylvia Sosa left Saturday’s Medicare prescription drug fair with a game plan. The 48-year-old Aldine-area woman had shown up at the daylong event at the George R. Brown Convention Center in hopes of finding the most cost-effective drug coverage for her elderly parents. After waiting two hours to get a computer printout detailing which plans offered the best deals on her parents’ medications, she settled on an insurance company and arranged an appointment for a representative to meet with them. “I sure got a big old headache out of the way,” said Sosa. About 2,000 people streamed through the convention center to learn more about the Medicare prescription drug program that started Jan. 1. Candice Twyman, executive director of the Better Business Bureau Education Foundation, one of the organizing groups, said people started showing up at 7:30 a.m. for the event even though it wasn’t scheduled to start until 9 a.m. “It’s a big issue,” said Twyman. “They’ve heard all about it, but they don’t understand it, and hopefully this gives them more information in a neutral location.” Compile drug lists In Texas, 20 insurance companies with 47 different plans are offering stand-alone drug coverage for elderly and disabled people on Medicare that is subsidized by the federal government. Additionally, Houston-area people can choose from as many as 17 Medicare Advantage plans that provide drug coverage as well as managed medical care. Medicare beneficiaries have until May 15 to sign up for a plan without paying slightly higher premiums as a penalty. At Saturday’s fair, dozens of pharmacy students from the University of Houston and Texas Southern University were on hand to compile people’s lists of drugs and run a computer analysis to find the lowest-cost plans for their particular medications. Many people also met with nonprofit counselors, as well as representatives of insurance companies, Medicare and the Social Security Administration, which offers financial assistance for the low-income who qualify for extra help with their drug costs. “We’ve done a lot of enrollment today,” said Ja’Milla Lomas with My Medicare Matters, a group that helps seniors decide about their drug coverage. ‘A terrible fix’ Beulah Bosarge, 78, had come all the way from Port Arthur to talk to a counselor, but she had to wait because the early rush of people overwhelmed the computers’ capacity to do an individualized analysis for everyone. “I think there are as many different cases as there are people here,” said Bosarge. “We can’t stand up that long. We can’t sit down that long. We’re in a terrible fix.” Bosarge did, however, get to see a counselor . Barbara Robichaux, of Friendswood, who was researching drug coverage for her 84-year-old mother, said that even after the computer analysis showed her which plans offered the best deals on her mother’s eight medications, double-checking with one of the insurance companies caused her doubts. She learned that the cost of one of the recommended plans would soar if her mother’s doctor changed one of her prescriptions to a drug not covered by that plan. “It’s not as simple as what it seems,” said Robichaux, 60. “It is a mess.” melanie.markley@chron.com
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Copyright (c) 2006, Houston Chronicle
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