The Medicare Road Show visited more than 20 cities during its first phase, which ran from March to May. (To find out if the Road Show came to your state, click here. To learn about the events that took place, check out News from the Road Show.)

Why is the Medicare Road Show needed? The new law—the biggest change to Medicare since the program began—is almost 700 pages long and is very complex. Seniors will have to make many important decisions on their own and, to do so effectively, they will have to understand how they will be affected by the new law. To help them, Families USA has developed a number of tools. 

One of these tools is a video, "Navigating the New Medicare Rx Law," hosted by Walter Cronkite and featuring seniors from our story bank. (View the video online here.) It includes an overview of the low-income benefit, as well as details about the many shortcomings of the law. Seniors will learn that, under the new law:

• The Medicare program is prohibited from negotiating lower drug prices;
  
• There is a significant gap in coverage being referred to as the "doughnut hole";
  
• Seniors will only be allowed to purchase less expensive drugs from Canada if the Secretary of Health and Human Services gives his explicit approval;
  
• Low-income seniors will receive special help; 
  
• There is a strict assets test, which will disqualify many low-income seniors from receiving the help they need; and
  
• Seniors can get a discount card this spring, and they will be locked into one discount card for a year while the drugs covered by the card and the amount of the discount may change every week.

What other tools help explain the new law? The Road Show also features a number of written materials meant to help seniors understand the ins and outs of the new law. (You can read these fact sheets and issue briefs in the Road Show Kit.)

In addition to the Road Show materials, Families USA has developed a new Medicare Rx Calculator to help seniors figure out what they will get—and how much they will have to pay—under the new law. (Try the calculator.)

Finally, you can find more information about Medicare and prescription drugs in other sections of the Families USA Web site. You can add your own personal story to the Families USA story bank. And you can sign up for Families USA's Health Action network to receive our newsletter, our e-alerts, and regular information about important developments on health care policy.

[Return to top]