MEDICARE Enrollment rush expected

To handle the last-minute load, 6,000 operators are staffing a hot line at(800) 633-4227.
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
DALLAS -- If you're one of 5.7 million older Americans still lacking prescription drug coverage, government officials have a message for you: Time's running out.
You have until midnight Monday to enroll in a Medicare plan. After that, you won't be able to sign up again until Nov. 15. And you'll pay 1 percent more in premiums for each month you've delayed.
No extension
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt says Monday's deadline won't be extended, despite some lawmakers' calls for it to be pushed back to the end of the year.
"The deadline has worked -- it's helped seniors focus on this issue and act," he said. "An extension would only allow people to put off what they could do today."
Medicare's actuaries have figured that 2 million fewer older adults would sign up for prescription coverage now if they were given another 71/2 months to do it.
The holdouts fall into several groups, Leavitt said.
Wrong notions
Besides the habitual procrastinators, there are healthy seniors who don't believe they need the insurance and people who think the benefit is for only low-income seniors.
Medicare officials say both notions are wrong.
"Even the healthy should sign up in case they get sick or injured," said Medicare administrator Mark McClellan. "Buying a low-cost plan now will avoid paying a penalty later."
Nor is the drug coverage for just poor people. Any Medicare beneficiary is entitled to it regardless of income, McClellan said.
The only seniors who shouldn't feel any deadline pressure are those with drug coverage from elsewhere that's as good as Medicare's, such as from an employer. They won't be penalized and forced to pay a higher premium if they lose or drop their insurance later and enroll in a Medicare plan.
11th hour is here
For everyone else, the eleventh hour is here.
To accommodate an expected rush today and Monday, Medicare will have 6,000 telephone operators available at (800) 633-4227. The agency has also quadrupled its computer capacity at www.medicare.gov.
"It's all hands on deck for us," McClellan said.
The agency is also participating in hundreds of community enrollment events.
One of Medicare's local partners, the Dallas Area Agency on Aging, opened its offices from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday to sign up seniors.
"Bring your medications and your Medicare card, and we'll help you do the rest," said Carolyn Toliver, the Area Agency on Aging's benefits counseling coordinator.
She says the enrollment process takes 30 to 45 minutes.
Additional assistance
Toliver said her counseling staff would also help seniors on limited incomes apply to Social Security for extra assistance with their out-of-pocket prescription costs.
Those who qualify for the extra help will pay no premiums or deductible for their coverage, and their co-payments will be only a few dollars for each prescription.
By midnight Monday, the Bush administration projects it will have enrolled 31.4 million older adults and exceeded its goal of 28 million to 30 million this first year.