Statement of Susan Everett, North Carolina Regional Coordinator, Medicare Today, Raleigh, North Carolina

Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Health
of the House Committee on Ways and Means

May 03, 2006

Chairman Johnson and Members of the Subcommittee.  Thank you for the invitation to join you today and for the opportunity to testify regarding the implementation of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit.

My name is Susan Everett, and today I am representing the Medicare Today partnership, an alliance of over 400 organizations representing seniors, patients, health care providers, employers, caregivers and many others.  The members of Medicare Today have spent the last several months working personally with Medicare beneficiaries, providing information and enrollment assistance to literally millions of individuals.  I am a regional coordinator for Medicare Today and have personally been involved in numerous education and enrollment events in Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland and West Virginia.

Let me tell you a little about what I have learned from meeting with and assisting hundreds of Medicare beneficiaries, and then I’ll be pleased to answer your questions.

When the Part D enrollment period began last November, I will admit that my optimism was guarded.  We were introducing people to a brand-new program, and seniors tend to be naturally skeptical consumers.  And that skepticism was heightened by the amount of negative commentary in the media from people saying the program wouldn’t work, it wouldn’t really save seniors any money, it was too complicated.

I met, for example, with a woman named Doris from Newport News, Virginia.  She had heard so much negative commentary about the Medicare drug benefit that she really wanted nothing to do with it.  Then, after she had some health complications that required a new prescription costing more than she could afford on her fixed income, her sister convinced her that she should at least come to the Medicare Today event we were doing in her community because she had nothing to lose from hearing a little about the program. 

Well, once Doris got there, we not only ran her information through the CMS PlanFinder and found a plan that would save her money, but we also connected her with the Social Security Administration official on site and got her enrolled for low-income assistance.  Today, Doris doesn’t have to wonder whether she can afford her medicine or not.

And Doris’s story goes to the heart of my testimony today, Chairman Johnson.  The Part D implementation process has, by and large, worked.  It hasn’t been perfect.  I don’t see how any program of this magnitude could be perfect in its first year of operation.  But because the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has created tools for beneficiaries to use to find the best plan for their circumstances, and because so many organizations like ours are on the ground, interacting every single day with beneficiaries, the implementation process has been a positive one.

We come to this conclusion from considerable experience.  In 2005 and thus far in 2006, Medicare Today has conducted over 2,500 beneficiary events, almost 500 of them in coordination with members of Congress.  We have provided information to over 5.5 million beneficiaries and helped enroll over half a million, and that does not include the people who enrolled on their own after attending one of our events.  We have trained over 175,000 people in all 50 states, so that they are qualified to help Medicare beneficiaries enroll in the Part D program.

We’ve learned a great deal as we’ve gone along.  We’ve learned, for example, that advertising and mass-messaging is important, but it is not a substitute for meeting people face-to-face and being able to answer their questions about a brand new program.  We’ve learned that to reach low-income seniors and help them get the assistance they need, you have to work through established systems, such as meals-on-wheels programs and subsidized housing facilities.    And we have also worked, from the beginning, with SHIP programs and area agencies on aging with great success.  We’ve learned over the last few months that these public-private partnerships can make considerable progress in locating and linking people with the benefits they need.

A good example of this collaborative effort is seen in the work of one of our partners, Ascension Health, and its many hospitals and health services throughout the country.  In Bridgeport, Connecticut, for example, Ascension’s St. Vincent’s Health Services hosted several events at their facilities and St. Vincent parish nurses worked with the state and with the Area Agency on Aging to have computer-equipped vans at churches to educate and enroll parishioners.  This type of effort has been very successful and well-received.

It is my hope and belief that the lessons learned by us, by CMS, and by other groups like the Medicare Rx Education Network, the ABC Rx Coalition, AARP and others will make the next open enrollment period even more successful and problem-free.

I can share with you my personal experiences, but I can also offer some empirical evidence.  The Medicare Today partnership commissioned the American Viewpoint public opinion research firm to do a survey of 1,000 seniors in April regarding the Part D enrollment process.  Asked whether enrolling was easy or difficult, 72 percent said “very or relatively” easy compared to just 20 percent that said “very or relatively” difficult. 

We asked those who were self-enrolled if they encountered any problems in enrolling.  89 percent said no.  Only eight percent said yes.  I think these are very solid results for a program in its first year, especially one that was launched amidst so much criticism.

Chairman Johnson, there is certainly more I could say, were it not for the time limitations.  Let me leave you, though, with one anecdote that occurred recently at a Medicare Today event near Lexington, Kentucky.

At this event, I met an elderly gentleman who wanted to learn more about the Part D program.  I learned through our conversation that he could not read or write, so that meant it took quite a bit of extra time to explain the process to him and to tell him how a prescription drug plan would work for he and his wife.  As our conversation continued, I also learned that he and his wife had been cutting pills in half, skipping some of their doses and not getting prescriptions filled because they couldn’t afford them.  It was an emotional moment for both of us when I explained that he would save nearly $300 per month and wouldn’t need to cut pills in half anymore.

I want to thank the members of this subcommittee and this Congress for creating this drug benefit, for this gentleman in Kentucky and the millions more like him whose lives are made better by it.  I hope I’ve given you an on-the-ground perspective on the enrollment process, and I will be pleased to answer your questions.