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**White House Conference on Aging Solutions Forum**

**September 12, 2005**

**Medicare Answers---Prescription Savings**

**Presented by Donnia Smith, Director of Volunteer Programs**

It was Friday afternoon, December 31, 2004---we still had a stack of
cards with names of people who wanted assistance with the prescription
drug cards and the low-income subsidy. Maybe just a few more calls from
our staff and volunteers before calling it quits to go home and
celebrate the beginning of a new year. I placed a phone call to a
gentleman and his wife with an address in Belle Glade, which is an area
with one of the lowest literacy and per capita income levels in Palm
Beach County. After talking a few minutes, I realized that we could give
him some help, but it would take some time---his wife did not read at
all and his reading level was very low. In addition, he spoke with the
assistance of a voice box, which made him extremely difficult to be
understood by phone. We proceeded to complete the required forms, but
when it came to his medications, I could not understand what he was
saying. That is when I found that he and his wife were raising their two
grandchildren and the ten-year-old grandson came to the rescue. He
spelled the names of sixteen medications his grandparents were taking.
We were able to help this couple complete the necessary forms to receive
the \$2400 low-income subsidy to assist with the cost of their
medications, plus additional savings after that was spent down. What a
way to end 2004!

When CMS announced the low-income subsidy for Medicare recipients and
mailed out millions of letters, questions were addressed directly to our
SHINE volunteers. In visiting sites within the community, we found that
Medicare recipients had many questions and concerns. In talking with
limited income seniors, many had done nothing with the letter and forms
they had received. They were confused and many were afraid or did not
know how to complete the necessary forms. Would they be taken advantage
of, or charged for something they didn't receive?

Knowing there were people such as this couple spurred the Area Agency on
Agency to partner with the Access to Benefits Coalition, Center for
Medicare Services, and our Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders
(SHINE) program to open a MAPS center. Discussions to open such a site
began in July 2004. Medicare Answers---Prescription Savings or MAPS
became our dream to help reach our senior population. This would be a
center where people could come in or call to get answers and help with
their questions on Medicare benefits, health insurance, and where to
turn for additional resources. Group meetings and partnering with other
agencies would be utilized to "get the word out to our senior
population." A space was rented and plans began to take shape---we would
have a MAPS center!! But then Hurricanes Francis and Jeanne came to
southeast Florida in September 2004, destroying the selected site for
ours MAPS center.

We were determined not to let that dream die, and another site was
secured in a strip mall along Military Trail in West Palm Beach. It was
a site where local seniors could take Palm Tran nearly to the front door
of the MAPS center. They could also call a local number and for the
folks to the west and south, an 800 number was utilized. After a few
road blocks along the way, the MAPS center finally opened in December
2004. Although we had continued to do presentations and help people
complete the necessary forms on a small level, the push was now on to
reach as many people as possible who might be eligible for the \$600
credit, equaling a total of \$1200 for 2004 and 2005.

Additional volunteers and partner agencies such as the Division of
Senior Services and Glades Initiative were recruited and the agency
began the task of assisting as many eligible seniors as possible in the
3+ weeks remaining in 2004. Local television and newspapers featured the
center as a place to turn to for answers and help with Medicare and
prescription drugs. The calls came and people came---volunteers and
staff began the process of assisting Medicare beneficiaries get the help
they so desperately needed. Some of our volunteers repeatedly asked the
question, "How do these people survive with all their prescription drug
costs?"

By December 31, the savings to the seniors we helped totaled over a
quarter million dollars in prescription drug savings from the low-income
subsidy and the prescription drug benefit cards. MAPS proved to be a
great solution to a community need.

Why was MAPS successful? It was a local grass roots effort of staff,
volunteers and partnering agencies reaching out to help local residents.
The phone was staffed six hours each day with a real person, not a
"press 1 if you need help with this, or 2 for that." It was an effort to
reach out into local senior housing residences, churches, senior
congregate meal sites, and other organizations to give out the necessary
information, to answer questions, and let them know where to call
locally for additional help.

What is happening now? MAPS has continued to enroll seniors in the
low-income subsidy for 2005. Staff and volunteers are also extremely
busy working closely with Social Security personnel to explain the new
Medicare Part D and the benefit for low-income seniors. And yes, we are
getting calls from some of those folks we assisted last year---"What
about this Medicare Part D?"

Medicare Answers Prescription Savings (MAPS), a grassroots effort on the
local level to assist one of the most needy populations with
prescription drug savings. MAPS---we will point you in the right
direction.