Website may offer seniors little benefit

WASHINGTON -- The new Medicare prescription drug plan that goes into operation in January is one of the most complicated federal benefits ever devised, and senior citizens by the tens of thousands have been shying away from signing up.

But not to worry, federal officials say. They've developed a new system called ''Plan Finder" to make everything simpler and help seniors save money.

There's just one catch: The new system is designed for people who have no problem getting onto the Internet via computer -- something fewer than one-third of all elderly Americans have ever done.

If navigating the Internet is not enough of a challenge, those who get to the Medicare.gov website must type and mouse-click their way through screen after screen of questions, boxes to check, options, and choices.

They must feed in personal information about themselves, the drugs they take, and the pharmacy they use. Only then will they get a personalized list of available plans, with their main characteristics spelled out and their costs ranked from lowest to highest. That, specialists agree, is where the real comparison shopping should begin.

To computer wizards, or the Xbox generation grandchildren of senior citizens, all this would be child's play.

''It's neat -- it's well done," said 35-year-old Susannah Fox, associate director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

But the aging, computer-challenged customers whom Plan Finder is intended to help might disagree. ''For someone who is computer savvy, I would probably give [Plan Finder] a 'B,' " said Marlene Eskin of Austin, Texas, who is 70 and works as a marketing consultant. ''For the audience they are directing it to, the majority of whom may not even have a computer, I would give it a 'D.' I think that's the group it needs to work for."

At one level, it might seem all too predictable that the government, which many Americans consider the leading producer of red tape, proposes to deal with the red tape of the prescription drug plan with an online help system that is the dot-com equivalent of more red tape.

But there's nothing funny about the potential consequences. The Medicare prescription benefit is a small but pioneering step toward helping large numbers of Americans cope with the ever-increasing cost of healthcare. It is also one of the proudest domestic policy achievements of the Bush presidency. Yet, the complexities of the plan have discouraged so many senior citizens from signing up that the plan's success is in doubt.

If Plan Finder or something like it does not change that situation, the result could be a major setback in the quest for improved healthcare.

And the problems with Plan Finder seem to range from its technical difficulties to cultural ones between its designers, who are comfortable with the conventions of the online world, and its intended users, who frequently are not.

Recent surveys show that 23 to 30 percent of seniors go online, compared with more than 70 percent of all Americans.

And for many seniors in frail health with serious medical problems who need the new prescription drug plan most, just gaining access to a computer and manipulating its keyboard and mouse systems might be difficult, if not impossible.

Even some of the people responsible for creating the system acknowledge the difficulties.

''The average senior probably has to have some help in navigating it. I had to do that with both my parents," said Michael Cho, 42, president of Los Angeles-based DestinationRx, which developed the Plan Finder calculator for Medicare. ''Like anything new, it's an intimidating process."