Michael Leavitt, the Bush administration’s top health official, urged Colorado community leaders Friday to get creative in spreading the word about Medicare’s new prescription drug plan.
On Jan. 1, the federal health insurance program for seniors and the disabled will start paying part of the cost of drugs for the first time in its 40-year history.
Private insurance companies will unveil details, including the specific drugs they will cover and monthly premiums, the first week of October.
The average Colorado Medicare member will save between $600 and $1,100 per year, depending on income, the Health and Human Services secretary said.
Medicare members can enroll starting Nov. 15, and public health officials want to reach as many seniors as they can between now and then.
In a Kaiser Family Foundation survey released Thursday, 40 percent of seniors said they lacked adequate information to decide whether to enroll.
Leavitt said he is concerned that many seniors incorrectly believe the benefit is only for those with low incomes. But he expressed hope that grassroots efforts by churches, hospitals, state agencies and others can help alleviate confusion.
“The conversation is just starting,” he said. “By late spring, everybody’s going to know about this.”
Leavitt’s visit to the Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center in Denver was part of a 100-city bus tour to promote Medicare’s new drug benefit.
He said other cities are developing innovative ways to reach out to seniors and the disabled and challenged a group of about 75 Colorado social-service workers to do the same.
“It will be tens of millions of individual conversations,” not television advertisements or brochures, that will make the enrollment effort a success, he said.
Leavitt highlighted a few outreach efforts he’d learned about while on tour:
In Kansas, one town’s mayor suggested stuffing utility bill envelopes with Medicare alerts.
In Chicago, 19,000 Meals- on-Wheels volunteers will check on homebound elderly to make sure they know about the benefit.
In New Orleans, 900 churches have agreed to distribute Medicare drug-benefit information and help seniors enroll.
Staff writer Marsha Austin can be reached at 303-820-1242 or maustin@denverpost.com.
