Released Feb. 27, 2008
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Doris Milks had Medicare troubles. Milks, 75, had trouble figuring out the right Medicare plan for her. She wasn't sure what to do with her Plan-D coverage. So Milks, an Alliance native, went to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension office in Box Butte County, where she got the help she needed.
"They helped me to understand what the government was trying to get across to the people (about Medicare)," she said. "You would hear about it on the news, but it wouldn't quite make sense. When I went to them, I got so I could really understand it."
Now, Milks said, she uses a plan that lowers her medication costs.
"It has really helped me because of my fixed income," she said. "It has helped me tremendously."
Milks is just one of the many people UNL Extension's Medicare Education Program helped.
In late 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research Extension and Education Service chose UNL Extension and several other extension divisions in the country to launch an educational program in response to the 2003 Medicare Reform Act. The act restructured the Medicare program and provided Medicare beneficiaries with some limited assistance paying for prescription drugs, according to the Center for Medicare Advocacy Web site.
Extension first educated Nebraska's senior citizens about the initial phase of the new Medicare benefit, the temporary prescription drug card program.
Nebraska now ranks fourth in the nation for percentage of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in a "stand-alone" prescription drug plan, said Jeanne Murray, an extension educator in Box Butte County.
"The program had a big economical impact," Murray said. "There's probably hundreds of thousands of dollars that seniors have been able to save on prescription drugs."
Four extension educators in the southwest, northwest, east-central and southeast areas of the state are available for Medicare education and enrollment. Their work is aided by grant funds and training from the Senior Health Insurance Information Program.
"I'm most proud of being able to help needy citizens save money and find some peace of mind when dealing with this very complex benefit," said Mary Ann Holland, an extension educator in Cass County.
"The drug plan benefit is very complex; the elderly cannot possibly understand what it's all about because they do not have access to the information."
Now UNL Extension is working to expand its program. In 2006, training began to lay groundwork for Nebraska's future enrollment activities. Murray said another change in Medicare education is increasing one-on-one counseling and informational sessions as opposed to holding large information sessions.
"We want more continual education," she said. "Each year they change the (drug) plans and the premiums quite a bit. We need continual education, on our part as well as educating the public about these changes."
Holland said the extension educators provide a necessary step between lawmakers and the drug users, especially considering the complexity of Medicare's drug plan program. She said educators have "hometown connections" that provide unbiased information to consumers to make educated decisions. Holland said while the program helps people, it is still shocking to see the poverty in which some elderly live.
"One woman in Tecumseh was so thrilled that I helped her enroll in a plan that would save her $56 a year," Holland said. "$56 is the price of a tank of gas for most of us! She thanked me over and over. $56 made a difference to her."
For more information, contact Murray at (308) 762-5616, Holland at (402) 267-2205 or a local extension office.
Extension is a division of the university's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
-30-
http://ianrnews.unl.edu/static/0802272.shtml
Contacts: Jeanne Murray, (308) 762-5616
Dan Moser, (402) 472-3007
