A Senior's Uncertainty over Prescription Drug Plan

ED GORDON, host:

We spoke to one African-American woman in Phoenix, Arizona, who says she's not sure what to think about this new prescription drug plan, but so far she's not buying it.

Ms. WILLIE E. COBURN(ph) (Retiree): My full name is Willie E. Coburn. I'm 82 years old. And, frankly speaking, I'm not changing over for anything at the present. I don't understand Medicare D at all. I'm a retiree from my job and I have insurance to cover me for everything the rest of my life. But I don't understand the Medicare D. In the first place, I want to know why they skipped C.

I have arthritis and high blood pressure. I only pay a dollar for any type of medicine I have. When I heard about this plan, my reaction was I don't go for it because, in the first place, it seemed like it's more like that HMO insurance. And a lot of people didn't take HMO and a lot of doctors won't take HMO because it's a political insurance. And to me, this is something on the same basis because President Bush had a piece in the paper saying, `This is the greatest creation since Social Security began.' I can't see it like that.

Right now they said November the 15th, which was Tuesday, for everybody to start enrolling, but you could go to May the 15th, 2006. So by 2006, May the 15th, I'd like to see what improvement they have done. Maybe you can call back after the 15th of May, and let me tell you what I think of it by then.

GORDON: That was 82-year-old Willie Coburn of Phoenix, who retired 15 years ago.

Copyright © 2005 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.