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Show Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, November 12-15, 2005 The Park Record A-12 Medicare complexity may scare seniors By BROOKE ADAMS MediaNeivs Group Wire Service As a tax attorney. Bill Vogel was not easily stumped by complex calculations. Wife Donna, a retired nurse recruiter, navigated the health care world with ease. But the two Salt Lake City residents admit that selecting a Medicare prescription drug plan has left them confused _ and angry. "There is one good aspect to this. We will have national health insurance sooner than later," Bill Vogel predicts. "Seniors will be sick of this, the complications, the paperwork." The new coverage, which seniors can sign up for beginning next Tuesday, is the biggest change in the 40-year history of the Medicare program, adopted in 1965 to provide health insurance for people ages 65 and older and those with certain disabilities. Currently, about 42 million Americans are eligible for Medicare, though about a fourth of those have adequate , coverage through current jobs or retiree benefits. When he signed the new prescription benefit into law in 2003, President Bush hailed it as something that would "save our seniors from a lot of worry." Perhaps that will prove true in the long run. At the moment, it is instead causing many of them angst, even as experts call for patience. In part seniors are overwhelmed by options. In Utah, there are 18 companies offering more than 50 plans, each requiring seniors to work a complex calculus involving need, existing coverage, premiums, deductibles, co-pays and drugs covered. "There is confusion, there is uncertainty and they are worried about making mistakes," Carol Einhorn. executive director of the Jewish Community Center in Salt Lake City, says of the seniors attend- Stock Up Before The SakJEnds On Nov. 15! Annual FALL SALE Save BIG on our All-Natural Botanical Body Products! 20% off All Spa Treatments! Try our Fatnous Hand Treatment j FREE in-store before you buy! : m M ; - n S n ,c[ # 555.9342 n.,ji y JO - 7 jke SilvelJLake Office -;%->,. • Lewis, Wolcott & Dornbush Real Estate ing seminars her agency has sponsored. This week, the Medicare Web site is expected to offer an evaluation tool to help seniors identify ihe three best plans for their needs. The tool, initially promised by Oct. 13, is being criticized as a high-tech solution for a decidedly low-tech group. "How many elderly people are computer savvy?" asked Bill Vogel, who also must help his wife select a program for her 94-year-old mother who lives in another state. Advocates for senior citizens say the new insurance program clearly will benefit seniors who are lowincome, or have no drug coverage, or are on Medigap plans or use expensive medications _ something that happens routinely in the last months of life. It is predicted that people in those categories will save hundreds of dollars annually. For others, the program is being touted as a hedge against age-related health disasters, similar to home insurance. And that leaves some seniors in a quandary. What if you are about those like Muriel Abrams, 83, who takes nothing more than a Turns a day to stay healthy? After attending one seminar on the program, she left more convinced than ever to that she should do nothing. "Why would I pay for something?" she said. "If I get to the point where I need it, certainly I'm going to do it, but I live on a fixed income. I can't afford (it)." The new program carries a penalty provision aimed at scaring people like Abrams out of such do-nothing decisions. Advocates are working to steer them into plans, too. "People need to approach this like they would any insurance decision," said Rob Ence, state director of AARP Utah. "This is protection against risk that you may not currently have but you have to anticipate some things in the future." The fact is, Uncle Sam needs people like Abrams. The program's cost effectiveness - and profitability for the dozens of companies offering coverage - depends on getting healthy, higher-income seniors to sign up. If they don't, premium costs could increase significantly in the future, according to an analysis done for the Kaiser Family Foundation. The same study predicted that if plans were seen as too expensive or overly complicated, many people would balk. Muriel Abrams proves illustrates the point. So do Kathryn and Va'ron Howell of Murray, Utah. The retired educators - he was a principal, she was an elementary school teacher - have read about the program and talked to friends and a pharmacist, but remain confused on whether there will be any benefit to them. Next step: Meet with their supplemental insurance plan agent. "We are undecided and, honestly, I don't understand fully why it is such a good thing if you have to pay," Kathryn Howell said. Most of the information she has received so far seems vague and confusing, she said. And her friends ali seem confused, too. "There is a tot of fear that you may pick the wrong plan or will be locked into a plan or, worst of all, won't sign up and will be penalized financially for life," said Deane Beebe, communications director for the Medicare Rights Center. The national, not-for-profit organization in New York focuses on ensuring access to high-quality, affordable health care for older adults and people with disabilities. Like with most health insurance benefits, premium costs are likely to rise - especially if buy-in from healthy, wealthy seniors is low. Drug costs also are likely to fluctuate. Health status may change, too. And there is a chance that the plan you select today wont be around in the future. "There is nothing stable about this plan," Beebe said. "There is nothing guaranteed about it. Even the sawiest consumer can shop for the drug plan that he or she thinks meets their needs but find that the plan they picked today is of no use tomorrow." The center sees the new program as the first step toward privatizing Medicare and says it likely will be seen someday as the trigger for a "battle over the soul of the Medicare program." Despite that, it is encouraging seniors to take a look at what is being offered. "For low income people, we encourage them to enroll and get the subsidy to pay for the benefit," Beebe said. "For people with high drug expenses, we encourage them to try and pick a plan that works for them, to the best of their ability and given that drug needs change, plans change and formularies change. For everybody else, it is a matter of how much discretionary income you have, how averse you are toriskand how much of a gamble you want to take." Liberty Media gets new CEO By GREG GRIFFIN MediaNeivs Group Wire Service Denver - Greg Maffei got a call from his longtime friend John Malone about a month ago. The chairman of Liberty Media Corp. was looking for a chief executive and wondered if Maffei knew anyone for the job. Maffei, the chief financial officer at Oracle Corp. for just a few months, gave him some names. Malone called again a few days later and asked for more names. Maffei was at a loss. He told a friend, who said that Malone wanted Maffei for the job. "John was, in his own inimitable way, trying to send a signal," said Maffei on Wednesday after being named Liberty's next CEO. He will run one of the worlds dominant media-holding companies, with a market capitalization of $22.5 billion. Liberty, based just south of Denver in Douglas County, owns the QVC shopping channel, Starz Entertainment Group, 18 percent of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., 20 percent of Barry Diller's IAC/Interactive Corp. and lesser stakes in other media titans, including Time Warner, Viacom and Sprint. Maffei, 45, will join Liberty next week and assume the CEO job, now held by Malone, 64, next spring. He also will become president, a title now held by Robert "Dob" Bennett, who resigned as CEO in August. Among Maffei's challenges at Liberty will be to try to simplify its business structure. On Wednesday, Liberty announced the creation of Liberty Interactive, a so-called tracking stock for up to 85 percent of its equity assets, including QVC. If Liberty Interactive were eventually spun off, what remains, including the News Corp. stake and Starz, would be in a company named Liberty Capital. "Greg is well known and respected in the media and electronic commerce industries and has extensive deal experience in these areas," said Malone, who will remain chairman of Liberty Media, as well as chairman of Liberty Global, the international cable TV company, also based in Douglas County. Liberty Media's stock closed at S8.02, up seven cents. The company reported a third-quarter loss of $94 million. Ted Henderson, a cable analyst in Denver with Stifel Nicolaus & Co., said Liberty appears to be "unwinding" its assets rather than growing. Maffei disputed that notion. Maffei said Wednesday that his departure from Oracle after only four months was purely driven by the opportunity presented to him by Malone. Recently, Oracle founder Please see CEO, A-13 INCLUDE DEER VALLEY ON YOUR LIST OF : :: Things to be Thankful for. Top Row. 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