WASHINGTON, April 26 (UPI) -- The deadline for most beneficiaries to sign up for the Medicare prescription drug coverage plan is May 15, but many of them may not be aware of it.
USA Today reports nearly half the nation's seniors apparently don't know about the deadline, despite a nationwide campaign by government and private organizations.
The newspaper, quoting a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, said only 55 percent of seniors know the deadline is May 15, and only 53 percent know enrolling after the deadline will result in higher fees.
The poll's findings may help an effort to extend the deadline to allow more time for seniors and those with disabilities to pick a prescription-drug plan without paying higher premiums, but the administration and Republican congressional leaders have thus far refused to consider such an extension, the newspaper reported.
"It's a finding that I think can't be ignored," a Kaiser spokesman told USA Today.
The Bush administration says more than 30 million people have the drug coverage, including 8 million who signed up voluntarily and others who were transferred from Medicaid or were members of managed-care plans.
