More Seniors are supporting the Medicare Drug Plan

U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw meet with 40 seniors to discuss the new medicare drug plan. There were some tough questions asked about the plan but overall seemed receptive to the plan than in the past.

Overall, Shaw said, the group at Mangrove Bay Adult Living Community seemed more receptive to the new, Republican-drafted program than the audiences he was facing a few months ago.

"You begin to feel whether there's suspicion or whether the people are with you," said Shaw, a 13-term incumbent who faces a tough reelection fight in a Palm Beach County-Broward district in which 27 percent of voters are seniors.

"At first people were not too sure. They were very cautious," he said. "There were a lot of questions that were very negative."

Experts will be pondering the merits of the new plan for years to come, but members of congress will get a response in the fall elections as to whether the public is recieving the plan.

Republicans devised the drug plan and passed it in 2003, but it has been Democrats who have made it a campaign talking point in House races across the country. They have spent months blasting the program as inadequate and confusing, and politics watchers generally have viewed the program as a GOP liability.

"I don't think it's something that right now Republican incumbents are jumping up and down and pointing to as a great legislative accomplishment," said Nathan Gonzalez of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report.

Shaw, however, believes seniors are warming to the drug program as more of them enroll and begin saving money on prescriptions.

Even though the plan is more complex. Seniors are beginning to see the benefits in the plan as they start using it to save money.

"I'm seeing more positive reactions because they're seeing how it actually works, and they're saving money," said Nora, who attended the meeting at Mangrove Bay. She said the plan allows a typical senior to cut drug costs in half.

A six-month enrollment period for the new program ends May 15, with seniors facing higher monthly premiums if they sign up afterward. As of Tuesday, more than 30 million of the nation's 43 million Medicare beneficiaries had prescription drug coverage. In Florida, more than two-thirds of the state's 3 million seniors are covered.

In a testament to the political sensitivity of the issue, the government breaks down participation figures by congressional district. Through March 18, statistics showed 61 percent of the 120,846 seniors in Shaw's District 22 had signed up.

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