Back to Home > Life & Times > Friday, Apr 14, 2006 Health Posted on Fri, Apr. 14, 2006 email this... Wooing minorities to Medic

One of every six Medicare beneficiaries is black or Hispanic, and many of them lack prescription drug coverage -- creating some unusual allies as the Bush administration tries to boost enrollment in the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Two years ago, the head of the NAACP called for Bush's defeat in his re-election bid. Now, the NAACP is courting celebrities like Bill Cosby to promote the program and inviting Medicare officials to send their flashy, high-tech bus to black churches so counselors can help beneficiaries wade through all their options.

NAACP officials said they think the drug benefit can be improved. But even as it stands now, they say, it will help poor seniors and the disabled.

''We have to separate the benefit from the politics and the administration, and take it for what it is: It's access to prescription drugs for people who didn't have it before,'' said Myisha Patterson, the NAACP's national health coordinator.

A recent ABC/Washington Post poll indicated whites are evenly divided about the merits of the program. But among nonwhites, a gap emerges -- 36 percent approve and 54 percent disapprove. The disapproval is even greater if you just consider blacks -- 63 percent.

About 55 percent of the whites, blacks and Hispanics eligible for the program have enrolled voluntarily, said Peter Ashkenaz, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That does not include beneficiaries who were automatically enrolled because of their previous participation in Medicaid.

Adolph Falcon, a vice president at the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, said his organization is also helping the administration with its outreach. It doesn't consider the drug benefit a political issue.

The Center on an Aging Society, part of Georgetown University, found that among older adults with chronic conditions, 52 percent of whites had prescription drug coverage. That number drops to 39 percent for blacks and 31 percent for Hispanics.

''Once they sit down with somebody they're able to trust and they bring their medications with them, they're really able to walk through it and make a decision that's best for them,'' Falcon said.

President Bush's trip to Annandale, Va., on Wednesday was in keeping with the concept of reaching out to minority groups. He visited a largely Asian-American audience at Northern Virginia Community College. Some in the crowd who don't speak English wore headphones that fed them a translation.

Among the racial and ethnic groups tracked by CMS when it comes to enrollment, the numbers are particularly strong for Asian-American enrollment, with about 675,000 out of 900,000 having drug coverage through a Medicare plan or their former employer.

Overall, about 1,000 events a week are taking place around the country designed to generate enrollment in the drug benefit, said Kathleen Harrington, director of external affairs for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The NAACP's Patterson said the organization has developed ''a fresh relationship'' with the administration in the past year. The organization's philosophy now is to let a particular issue drive the cooperation or lack thereof.

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