Success Stories of Medicare Plan D Prescription Plan

"I was amazed at the amount of money it saved," said Virginia Shores, 80, who had been buying her medicines from a mail-order pharmacy in Canada.

"It was well worth the time," stated Anna Brown, 71, who, along with her husband, Bobby, will save over $20,000 annually since enrolling in Plan D.

"This is a tremendous help to my mother and me," commented Mary Ward, who with her siblings, had been subsidizing their mother's drug bill which decreased from $476 per month to $100.

Those having a positive experience with Plan D have the following traits in common:

Todd E. Pendergraft, owner of a Medicine Shoppe pharmacy, indicated Plan D was "significantly beneficial" to a third of his 750 Medicare patients, "marginally beneficial" to half, and of "no benefit at all" to the rest.

According to Dr. M. Jean Root, a geriatrician who sees several hundred Medicare patients, "About half of my patients say they like the new benefit and are saving money. The people most likely to benefit have enough education and perseverance to navigate the system..." She continued by saying, "The other half of my patients, including those with dementia and terminal illnesses don’t have the energy, the interest or the mental capacity to work through the system."

Source: The New York Times, 3-26-06