NATION Complicated new Medicare law leaves older Americans confused

Because of the confusion, many don't know whether they like the law.
LAUREL, Md. (AP) -- Eugene Obermier takes eight pills a day and a dim view of the new Medicare law, with its prescription drug benefit.
"I think it stinks," said the 78-year-old retired automobile service manager from Maryland City who has a bad heart, high blood pressure and other health issues. He gets prescription drugs through his wife's state health plan.
But after taking part in an hourlong town meeting hosted by Rep. Ben Cardin, D-Md., a vocal opponent of the Medicare overhaul, Obermier said he does not really understand the complicated law and how it might affect him and his wife.
That reaction has been common in lawmakers' meetings with older Americans and in queries to interest groups such as AARP. They find the law too confusing to be able to say whether they like it, according to both its supporters and detractors.
The Republican administration and AARP are undertaking intensive campaigns to explain the law before a negative impression takes root among the 40 million older and disabled Americans on Medicare.
Working on letter
The Health and Human Services Department is working on a letter from Secretary Tommy Thompson to older people next month to explain the law. In addition, HHS officials are being made available to Republican lawmakers for public meetings on the law, said Greg Crist, a spokesman for House Republicans.
"There is a curiosity which could lead to confusion unless we act," Crist said.
In Georgia, Republican Rep. Phil Gingrey, a physician who voted for the overhaul, said he has made some headway among older constituents who have attended his public meetings about Medicare.
"They have heard a lot of Medi-scare rhetoric about being forced out of Medicare and losing prescription drug benefits they already have," Gingrey said. "It has been an educational task of mine to make sure they understand the truth as opposed to the rhetoric."
The competing meetings and public relations efforts serve almost as a continuation of the partisan debate in Congress on the legislation.
President Bush and his allies tell people the drug benefit is voluntary. "If you don't want to change your current coverage, you don't have to change," Bush said when he signed the bill this month.
But Cardin argued strenuously that it is not voluntary, stressing that the Congressional Budget Office predicts that 2.7 million people will lose the more generous drug benefits they have from former employers.
"Public opinion, the jury is still out," Cardin told the dozen or so older people at the Resurrection Catholic Church in Laurel.