What’s driving the disparity. Kraig says consolidation of health systems is a major contributor to health insurance costs. “Areas of the state that have the least competition between the major hospital systems . seem to have the highest costs,” said Kraig. Madison, with it’s large buying pool of state employees, has the state’s lowest health insurance costs, while Racine, the Chippewa Valley, La Crosse and Metro Milwaukee have the highest. Kraig says addressing the issue ought to be a high priority for the next session of the Legislature; “this . really is a threat to economic growth and job creation.”
On the issue of “cost shifting” Kraig said that while areas of the state with high numbers of uninsured residents, and low Medicare and medicaid reimbursement costs, do have high health insurance costs, so do other areas of the state where those issues are not a factor.

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Still, even adding in the more positive responses by the baby boomers the survey found less than half thinking the Medicare Part D is a good thing for these Americans “having difficulty paying for prescription drugs.”
The spin put on the results in the news release from AARP’s latest “Election Watch” poll, said, “?almost twice as many respondents (48 percent) consider Medicare Part D to be a good thing for Americans having difficulty paying for prescription drugs.”
The poll on the Medicare prescription drug program is the eighth in a series of nine election polls to be released by AARP. It surveying nearly 1,000 likely voters age 42 and above, which it calls “boomer-plus respondents.”
“As enrollment for 2007 begins in November, AARP will continue to provide information to our members so they can find a plan that is best for them.”
AARP says, “There are very little differences of opinion about the Medicare prescription drug plan among the different age groups. Younger boomers (51 percent ages 42-50) are just as likely as older boomers (52 percent ages 51-60) and respondents 61-plus (46 percent) to think Medicare’s prescription drug plan will be a good thing for older Americans who have difficulty paying for their prescriptions.”
The final AARP “Election Watch Pulse of a Generation” poll, to be released next week, looks at government spending and fiscal responsibility as a voting concern. Full copies of this and other AARP polls can be accessed at http://www.aarp.org/research/legis-polit/elections and then by clicking “AARP Election Watch 2006: Pulse of a Generation.”

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“This is the first time a plan like this has been offered to Texas‘ chronically ill seniors,” said Care Improvement Plus’ Regional Vice President Lee Spruiell. “While disease management-focused health plans are a new concept, our focus on providing tools to help manage chronic conditions makes sense for this population. Not only can our services help them ward off avoidable disease complications such as amputation, blindness, stroke and heart attack, but we also can help address the approaching Medicare fiscal crisis by reducing the need for expensive treatments and hospitalizations.”.

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Sonya Edwards, Clinical Pharmacist for HealthSpring, says, “The Zynchros formulary application is very user friendly. formulary updates that used to take hours, now take only a few minutes. Zynchros.com keeps track of your formulary so you won’t have to,” she says. “Your complete formulary information is right at your fingertips, along with CMS model formulary documents and formulary information for printed distribution from your marketing department. Zynchros.com makes extracting and printing formulary information, sending formulary files to CMS, and e-mailing your formulary a breeze.”
“We are pleased to have HealthSpring join the Zynchros family,” said Bob Stream, Vice President of Sales, Zynchros. “HealthSpring’s commitment to give Medicare enrollees an extra advantage makes them a perfect partner for Zynchros. Our solutions enable HealthSpring to reduce operating costs, connect with other healthcare constituents such as e-Prescribing vendors, and improve customer service, as well as reducing the complexity of Medicare Part D, and delivering a complete platform that can be leveraged to communicate drug benefits.”

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“My older brother’s a physicist, my younger brother’s a pharmacist, and I’m an engineer, and we’ve all found it to be very, very complicated,” Musch says. “I feel sorry for the mass of elderly people out there. It’s got to be very confusing for them.”
“People seem a lot more OK with it this year,” says Lynn Heskett of the Ohio Department of Insurance, who travels a 27-county area advising Medicare beneficiaries about their choices. “I haven’t had many people who were really angry.”
“They’re calling us in a panic,” she says. “They’re very confused about the process, and what they have to do.”
“It behooves me to get into a plan,” Musch says. Despite the program’s complexity, he says, “Most of the people that I talk to have been satisfied with it.”

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The Ark-Tex Council of Government (ATCOG) Area Agency on Aging (AAA) was established in 1974 (to comply with the federal Older Americans Act of 1965) to plan and develop programs specifically for citizens 60 years of age and older and their spouses. Judy Mattson, manager of the programs said, �The Area Agency on Aging serves the elderly, age 60 and older. We provide meals for 17 Congregate Meal locations/Senior Centers throughout the region that we serve. There are numerous programs and services that we provide. To access services, the elderly population or their caregiver and family members should call our office.
The benefits Counseling program provides legal awareness and legal assistance to Texans 60 years or older or persons under age 60 who have Medicare. Rita Moore, the benefits Counselor is also State Certified. She and her volunteers help in matters regarding Medicare, medicaid, Social Security, SSI, Food Stamps, Insurance and Consumer Issues, as well as Guardianship, Workers; Compensation and denial of benefits to name a few. Rita describes how busy the benefits Counseling program is in informing the elderly about Medicare Part D. �With the onslaught of Medicare Part D, we have our hands full making appointments with citizens across our region to assist with them in making the correct choice of their prescription drug plan.� Rita said. �We have a lot of companies in the region who want to sell a prescription plan to senior citizens because they sell that plan, not because it�s the best plan for that particular person.

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“This is the first step on a very, very long journey.”
Sen. Ben Westlund, committee co-chairman and an Independent from Bend, said there is feeling in the health care community that “we are heading toward the wall at 80 miles per hour. If we do nothing, we hit the wall.”

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Though he’s more than 65 years old “I’m old,” is as specific as he gets. Bollinger isn’t on Part D because he has a Department of Veterans Affairs health insurance plan that includes prescription coverage. But in helping his wife, he formed some strong opinions about the Medicare prescription plan. “They’re out to make it as confusing as possible so you don’t know what the hell to do,” he said. “I know there’s profit in confusion.”
Her friend, Lillie Henderson, 72, of Exeter, said she and her husband have been happy with their Blue Cross part d plans, but when the enrollment period opens next month, they plan to look at plans that cover the gap because they don’t want to “fall in the black hole like Pat did.”
“It costs more,” she said of those plans, “but as a senior, you have to watch what you spend.”
Sitting in the Visalia Senior Center, Bollinger said, “There are some people here, I bet you, who get less than $800 a month from Social Security. So if they pay an extra $120 [a year], it hurts.”
“Clearly, some people were taken by surprise by the [gap],” Cheevers said. “And we pushed for more coverage in that. I mean, there’s heavy demand for that.”

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