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Administration on Aging
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MEDICARE ENROLLMENT ACTIVITY ON MAY 15th
Hundreds of thousands of people with Medicare took action on May 15 to enroll in Medicare prescription drug plans before the close of the initial enrollment deadline, which ended at midnight yesterday. There was also an unprecedented level of interest and enrollment leading up to the 15th as evidenced by the thousands oflocal enrollment events, more than 2.2 million calls to 1-800-MEDICARE, historic level of online enrollments and more than 15 million page views on www.medicare.gov.
Based on 872,000 enrollments from last week that have already been processed, as well as clear indications of strong enrollment activity in the final days before the deadline, significantly more than a million additional beneficiaries have Medicare drug coverage since our last announcement of more than 37 million beneficiaries with coverage on May 9.
As a result, while we are still tabulating final enrollment numbers, more than 38 million people with Medicare -- representing more than 90 percent of all beneficiaries -- now have coverage for prescription drugs.
Enrollment Update
- Overall: Since the last announcement on May 9th, 872,000 new applications have already been processed. This number does not reflect the last-minute enrollment surge that occurred over the last few days. Consequently, with hundreds of thousands of additional enrollments since that time, well over a million more beneficiaries will have coverage once all applications have been fully processed.
- We do not yet have numbers tabulated to reflect increased activity over the final weekend or online enrollments.
- Plans are submitting enrollment records ahead of a “payment cutoff” date today, and a second cutoff date next week. In addition, some beneficiaries who called at peak times are receiving return calls over the next several days to complete their enrollment.
- Online Enrollment : Since November 15, 2005, more than 3.7 million people with Medicare have enrolled online. This includes over 500,000 online enrollments since May 7, 2006 that are not yet reflected in overall enrollment counts.
- Online enrollment activity for Monday, May 15 th was extraordinary, reaching 143,875 individual enrollments. This is the largest single day online enrollment total since November 15, 2005.
- Over the weekend leading up to May 15 th, online enrollment activity reached 57,494 individual enrollments – four to five times greater than any other weekend in 2006.
- The www.Medicare.gov server, which was enhanced to quadruple capacity in anticipation of the May 15 th deadline, met the unprecedented level of demand readily.
Call Centers
- Volume of calls to 1-800-MEDICARE and use of the online enrollment center reached record levels on May 15th . This level was 58 percent higher than any other period of operation. More than 640,000 calls were handled on May 15th with an average wait time of 12 ½ minutes. Moreover, the average call times for the week ahead of the May 15th deadline was less than 4 minutes.
- In anticipation of unprecedented call volume, we staffed 1-800-MEDICARE with over 6,000 customer service representatives and supplemented with hundreds of our own expert staff. In addition, we put in place a back-up program that allowed beneficiaries to leave their name and phone number and receive a call back to enroll without a penalty.
Online Support
- Use of the online enrollment center also reached an all-time high on May 15 th, with an average of over 40,000 users accessing the website at any given time. At peak times during the day, over 50,000 active users were accessing the web site without difficulty.
- Due to a quadrupling of server capacity at www.Medicare.gov in anticipation of the initial enrollment deadline, the online enrollment center was able to handle this unprecedented level of traffic smoothly, with service maintained throughout the day.
Partner Activities
- Thousands of enrollment events were sponsored by local grassroots partners over the last weeks of the enrollment period. Since November 15 th, our grassroots partners – the network of caring – sponsored over 50,000 Medicare events and opportunities for people to get personalized assistance.
- More than 40,000 volunteers in communities across the country worked over this enrollment period counseling beneficiaries and sponsoring events to help people with Medicare.
- Thousands of our partners conducted events and stayed open over the weekend, and operated until midnight last night to assist people in making their last minute decision.
- Thanks to the national and local partners Medicare is now a permanent grassroots program, which will now turn its efforts to ensuring full use of the new prescription drug benefit and of the new and important preventive benefits, which are now a part of Medicare.
- CMS is confident that for the first time ever, 90 percent of people with Medicare have some kind of prescription drug coverage.
May 14, 2006 – Mother’s Day
May 14 -20, 2006 - National Women's Health Week (NWHW)
Promote Reconnect to Your Health! materials on women’s health, including Medicare-covered preventive services and Medicare’s new Rx coverage. Click here for more information.
Call to Action: Hispanics Mobilize on Medicare Part D
The National Hispanic Council on Aging (NHCOA) is joining with other major Hispanic national organizations in an urgent call to action to ensure Hispanic seniors get the information they need to enroll in the new Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit before the May 15 th deadline to avoid facing a penalty. Medicare Part D, authorized under the Medicare Modernization Act, provides help paying for prescription drugs, with additional help for those with limited income or resources, to anyone with Medicare who enrolls.
“An estimated 2.4 million Hispanics age 65 and older are eligible, yet to date some have failed to sign-up — even though the new plan could allow them to significantly reduce their health-care expenses, especially since many Hispanic seniors qualify for additional help,” NHCOA President Yanira Cruz said. “Hispanic seniors could save an average of over $1,100 over a year with the new benefit, and we do not want any Hispanic senior to miss out on the savings because they did not know about the help available in their communities.”
It is imperative that members of the Hispanic health, civic, CBO, nonprofit, and faith communities mobilize now and assist all Hispanic seniors to avail themselves of the new prescription drug benefit under Medicare, according to the coalition that includes the Interamerican College of Physicians and Surgeons (ICPS), National Association for Hispanic Elderly, National Puerto Rican Coalition (NPRC), Cuban-American National Council (CNC), National Alliance for Hispanic Health (NAHH), and the National Latina Health Network.
Medicare Part D allows beneficiaries to choose from a wide array of plans to ensure that they have a plan that fits their individual needs. Choosing the right plan can be a challenge for many seniors, especially those who speak only limited English. Over the next five weeks, these organizations are increasing their outreach efforts to provide one-on-one assistance to those that have not yet enrolled. NHCOA and its national partners also call on Hispanic communities and individual Hispanic families to enroll their older relatives in this new program without further delay.
“We recently helped a Hispanic couple save a substantial amount of money in Los Angeles, and this situation is not unique. It is happening all over the country,” said Cruz. “Mr. Miguel Cantu and his wife Elvia are Medicare recipients with standard prescription coverage who were paying $420 monthly for their 13 medications (and still had to satisfy a big deductible). Outreach workers quickly ascertained the Cantus’ eligibility for a better plan under the new Medicare Part D options. Now the Cantus’ monthly medication costs are only $252, with no deductible to satisfy. The Cantus are better off to the tune of over $2,000 a year – yet without the help of the NHCOA outreach workers they would not have made the switch.”
For information about Medicare, please go to Medicare.gov or call 1-800-Medicare.
To learn more about the work of the organizations, please visit any of the following websites:
Medicare Updates
 President George W. Bush signed H. R. 1, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., Dec. 8, 2003.
"With this law, we are providing more access to comprehensive exams, disease screenings, and other preventative care, so that seniors across this land can live better and healthier lives," said President Bush.
The new Medicare bill, the most substantial reform in Medicare’s history, is a step toward accomplishing two core goals – providing overdue prescription drug relief to seniors in need, and strengthening Medicare’s future. It also includes dramatic improvements in consumer choice through health savings accounts.
Seniors are getting discount cards aimed at achieving initial drug savings, and lower income beneficiaries are receiving an immediate credit of $600 to pay for prescriptions. The full program will begin in 2006, offering a completely voluntary package of drug coverage.
National Partners
N4a and NASUA
As agencies continue their efforts to outreach, educate, and enroll beneficiaries in Medicare's prescription drug discount card program and $600 transitional assistance credit, n4a and NASUA have designed the following media kit to assist agencies in meeting the demand for information on the complex new changes in Medicare. The media kit provides some helpful hints on planning and promoting community forums to educate seniors and their families on the Medicare prescription drug discount program.
The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) and the National Association of State Units on Aging (NASUA)NASUA through a supplemental grant from AoA (AoA) under the Eldercare Locator Program have launched an initiative to assist state and local aging agencies in their work to implement the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) over the next year.
To assist aging agencies in their efforts to outreach, educate, and enroll Medicare beneficiaries in Medicare’s new prescription drug program, n4a and NASUA is:
National Minority Organizations
As part of the National Medicare Outreach Campaign, AoA and CMS are working in cooperation with National Minority Organizations to target hard to reach low-income minority elders. The organizations include:
Testimonials
Related Information:
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