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More than Half of Senior Citizens will not Enroll
for Medicare Part D, Says Survey
"Too expensive and inferior.." were common complaints
Jan. 19, 2006 – Results released today of a
December survey says that over half of senior citizens have absolutely
no plans to enroll for Part D benefits. Less than 25 percent actually
said they had not joined in December but "intend to do so."
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The survey, the latest wave of the quarterly
national SeniorTrax survey by DSS Research, asked seniors whether they
had selected a Part D plan and were given three options of responding:
Yes; No, but I plan on doing so; No and I have no plans to do so.
● Less than one quarter (24%) said they had
chosen a Part D plan. They were almost evenly split between stand
alone PDPs (54%) and MA-PDPs (46%)
● Less than one quarter (23%) said they had not
chosen a Part D plan, but intend to do so.
● Over half (53%) said they had not chosen one
and have no plans to do so.
(Current coverage: Medigap - 37%, Medicare Advantage - 47% and Medicare
Only - 66%).
"These findings are consistent with our predictions
of six months ago. Part D is just too expensive and inferior to the
coverage seniors are familiar with," said DSS president and CEO Roger
Gates.
Highlights of the December study include:
Disinterested, non-buyers are lowest users of
medical services. Those who said they had not chosen a plan and had no
plans to do so take fewer prescriptions; spend less on prescriptions; go
to the doctor less often; and make fewer ER, inpatient hospital and
outpatient clinic / surgery center visits.
Disinterested, non-buyers are more affluent.
Members of this group report higher levels of education, substantially
higher levels of income and are more likely to be married than are
members of the other two groups. The groups do not differ in terms of
age and other demographic characteristics.
Likely buyers are less cynical, deal prone, do it
yourselfers. We tested a battery of attitude statements and found:
● Nearly two-thirds (65%) of those who indicated
that they had not chosen a Part D plan but intend to do so agree with
the statement "redeeming coupons makes me feel good."
● They are also most likely, across the three
groups, to agree with the statement "I try to deal with my health
problems on my own before I go to a doctor."
● They are the least cynical of the three groups
with a significantly higher likelihood to agree with the statement "In
general, companies are honest in their dealings with the consumer."
● Further, they are significantly more likely to
agree with the statement "I prefer not to pay attention to information
involving numbers." In other words, they are most approachable with
messages that do not show the numbers.
Familiarity with Part D has increased significantly
since September. One quarter of seniors were "very familiar" with Part D
in December, compared to 11% in September and 8% in June. Over 73% were
somewhat or very familiar with Part D by mid-December. Accurate
knowledge of Part D benefits has also increased. Sixty-eight percent of
seniors answered at least five of six questions correctly regarding Part
D coverage in December, while only 23% were able to provide the correct
answers in September. However, the "lock-in" period is still the least
understood aspect of Part D, tripping up over half of seniors surveyed
in December.
Almost all seniors (97%) have seen or heard
advertising for Part D in December compared to 80% in September.
Recall of carriers has also increased significantly
since September. Only 55% of seniors who heard or saw advertising in
September could name the specific carrier who sponsored the ad, while
83% did so in December. AARP, newspapers, magazines, health insurance
companies, friends, agents, employers, seminars and local seniors groups
were all mentioned more frequently in December as sources of information
on Part D. The most frequent sources in December were: AARP (56%),
health insurance companies (51%), Social Security office/web site (45%),
newspapers (43%) and TV (35%).
For more information about SeniorTrax(TM) survey
visit
http:///www.dssresearch.com . Or, to get on our mailing list to
receive regular updates about the survey, email
jtodd@dssresearch.com .
About DSS Research
DSS Research is a national marketing research firm
specializing in health insurance and health care. Over the past 23
years, DSS has conducted research and provided insight for health
insurance organizations across the country. The firm's services include
product development services, satisfaction research, brand analysis and
strategy research, ad testing and tracking, market segmentation research
and health risk assessment, giving DSS a high- level view of the
evolving health insurance business. DSS employs more than 150 health
care market research specialists. For more information, please visit
http://www.dssresearch.com/ .
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