LAST WEEK TO JOIN A MEDICARE PART D PROVIDER

The deadline for Medicare recipients to enroll in the Part D prescription drug programme is now six days away, and there are still many who have not selected a provider. So the big guns are on tour promoting the plan, hoping to boost enrollment.

President Bush is continuing his three day swing around Florida today, addressing the Part D programme during visits to an enrollment event in Broward County and at Sun City Center in Hillsborough County. The chief executive will be in Orlando tomorrow, where he will speak to a forum for senior citizens before returning to Washington.

Yesterday, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and Congressman Adam Putnam (R - Bartow) made a brief visit to an enrollment event at Lakeland's First United Methodist Church, where they spoke with several senior citizens learning about the different providers which are contracted with Medicare to offer the Part D coverage.

Friends, I work at a call centre for one of the companies that is offering Part D (not in Florida), and there is still an awful lot of confusion regarding this programme. A lot of seniors are experiencing considerable fustration in finding a provider who can handle most, if not all, of their medication needs, and also in having to also contact the Social Security Administration to apply for extra help which would reduce or eliminate their monthly premiums as well as any annual deductables and co-payments. Obviously, with this being the last week to enroll, the lines for most all of the providers and SSA will be jammed. I began seeing it for certain yesterday.

It's going to be a very busy week...