Seniors need to watch out for misleading mailings

PRINCETON — It’s still too early for seniors to re-enroll in Medicare Part D, but the mailings are coming fast and furious from various insurance companies. And some of them are downright misleading.

“They look like they come from Medicare,” said Karen Huskey, information and assistance specialist with the Senior Service Center in Princeton. “Instead, they’re from insurance companies who want to sell their policies. I don’t like them masquerading like they’re from the government.”

Huskey displayed one official-looking envelope that comes from the Medicare Services Division. The envelope invites seniors to “Open and reply today to learn about some of your options during the annual election period.”

“Everyone thinks it is from Medicare,” Huskey said.

In reality, it’s a mailing from HealthAlliance Medical Plans, an insurance provider in Urbana, and seniors will probably receive the same letter two or three times before the end of the year.

The annual open enrollment for Medicare’s drug benefit begins Nov. 15. Medicare Part D is a federal program that began covering prescription drugs for seniors as of Jan. 1, 2006. Those enrolled in the program pay a monthly premium, and then receive a discount on the cost of their prescription medicines.

Seniors will have from Nov. 15 until the end of December to change their programs, and Huskey said all seniors should review their programs before automatically re-enrolling. She said that many aspects of each program will change for next year, including the premium, which medicines are covered and how much the medicines will cost.

Huskey said the mailings have seniors confused and upset. She suggested that rather than trying to sort through the mailings or listening to an insurance agent, the best way to pick a plan is by using a government program to compare all the different plans available.

Seniors can use the plan finder by calling Medicare at (800) 633-4227, or by logging on to the Web site at www.medicare.gov, clicking on compare Medicare prescription drug plans and following the prompts, or by calling her for an appointment at the Senior Center at (815) 879-3981.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s daily health policy report, 32 million beneficiaries have enrolled in the drug benefit, which cost taxpayers $44 billion in fiscal year 2008. That figure is $6 billion lower than estimated as the program experienced lower-than-expected enrollment, more use of low-cost generic drugs and beneficiaries reducing drug spending to avoid the program’s “doughnut hole.”