News-Record.com

The Guilford County Department of Public Health has scheduled more flu-shot clinics for this month. Times, dates, locations and additional information are here.

The last time I came into the room, the man's eyes were open. They were blank as a pair of billiard balls. He was panting, his pulse was 42, and his pressure was dropping. The end was near. I thought to look one more time at his retinas. But as I leaned over him, in both of his open eyes I saw my own reflection hovering, a figure robed in white, immense, hazy, and distorted.

After my article this morning on rising Medicare Part D prescription-plan premiums was posted, I heard from Jeff Nelligan of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Washington. He offered a link to a Department of Health and Human Services news release that says more than 90 percent of Americans with Part D plans will have access to a less-expensive plan in 2008.

Comparing plans by price alone is a minefield because each plan handles deductibles, copayments, and "gap" coverage differently. The "gap" occurs when prescription drug expenses exceed a certain amount for the year but do not yet approach the level at which catastrophic coverage kicks in.

He also included a news release specifically about Part D in North Carolina, which I'm posting here:

Fast Facts for North Carolina 2008

• 52 Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs) serve people with Medicare for 2008
• 25 PDPs offering enhanced benefits or services (unchanged from 2007)
• 99.9% of people with Medicare could switch to a PDP with a lower premium in 2008
• 30 PDPs have $0 deductibles
• 1 PDP has a premium under $20
• $14.50 is the lowest monthly premium for a PDP
• $30.00 is the lowest monthly premium for a PDP with generic coverage in the Gap
• 88.8% of people with Medicare in a Medicare Advantage plans with Drug Coverage (MA-PD) will have access to a plan with $0 premium
• 100% of people with Medicare in a MA-PD will have access to a plan with $0 drug deductible
• 348,092 people with Medicare already qualify for extra help with prescription drug costs
• 17 PDPs have a premium amount of $0 for people who qualify for the full extra help.

If you qualify, extra help could pay for almost all of your prescription drug costs. Apply now or get more information by calling Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) or visiting http://www.socialsecurity.gov

Nelligan also passed along this news release regarding the Part D program generally:

Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program

While no program, public or private is perfect, Part D has had extraordinary success in its short, 23-month life. Participation rates, satisfaction rates, savings, and coming in under budget – not what you’d expect from a government program. And to get to the most obvious point – the drug benefit is improving the lives of every single beneficiary enrolled.

1...Satisfaction rates are consistently range above 80 percent:

• Kaiser Family Foundation (June 2006): 80% satisfied
• J.D. Power and Associates (September 2006): 75% satisfied.
• Medicare Rx Education Network (January 2007): 80% satisfied
• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) tracking survey (January 2007): 75% satisfied
• KRC Research (September 2007): 89% satisfied
• Voter/Consumer Research (October, 2007): 86% satisfied

2. The savings to beneficiaries is $1,200 annually.

3. The average monthly premium monthly is roughly $25, nearly 40 percent lower than when the benefit was established in 2003.

More than 90 percent of beneficiaries in a stand-alone Part D prescription drug plan will have access to at least one plan in 2008 with premiums lower than they are paying this year.

In 2008, beneficiaries in every state will have access to at least one prescription drug plan with premiums of less than $20 a month, and a choice of at least five plans with premiums of less than $25 a month.

Over 90 percent of people with Medicare will have access to a Medicare Advantage plan with Drug Coverage (MA-PD) for a $0 premium and with a $0 drug deductible.

There also are options that cover generic drugs in the coverage gap for as low as $28.70 a month. Nationwide, beneficiaries in any state can obtain a plan with coverage in the gap for generic drugs for under $50 a month.

4. The cost of the program has is $188 billion less (30 percent less), than estimated when the bill was passed. According to the CMS Office of the Actuary, the estimated cost of Part D for the 2004-2013 budget window was $633 billion. That cost is now estimated to be 445 billion.

5. Only 8 percent (of the 24 million) who lacked coverage in the gap had actual spending in the gap in 2006.

6. Generic utilization in Part D s 61.7 percent

7. CMS is making extraordinary efforts to reach out to the Low Income Subsidy (LIS) eligible beneficiaries, those who would receive the benefit for free. We are targeting potential LIS populations by zip code and then focusing outreach efforts in those areas.

The enrollment period for Medicare Part D plans begins today and ends Dec. 31. Follow the links in the "related links" box with my article to find online federal and state help in choosing a plan.

Today is the Great American Smoke-Out, a day when smokers nationally are encouraged to quit. The health reasons are too many to list. My father died of lung fibrosis most likely caused by smoking, so I've got a personal reason to urge you to quit if you smoke, and not to start if you don't smoke. Teens are particularly vulnerable to advertising pressure to smoke, so if you're young and have a friend who smokes, try some friendly peer pressure.

The Guilford County Department of Public Health has a good deal of information here on things going on locally with regard to tobacco.

UPDATE: QuitlineNC offers "free, expert support" for those trying to quit. Visit the site or dial 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

A case of the infectious blood disease meningococcemia has been recorded at UNCG, its student newspaper, The Carolinian, reports. We'll have a story for tomorrow, but in the meantime, you can get additional information on the disease from the Guilford County Department of Public Health here.

Area congregational nurses will be giving out 800 flu shots to people in the community who might not get them otherwise. The shots will be distributed through Moses Cone Health System's Congregational Nurse program to at-risk people such as the homeless, immigrants, those on fixed incomes and the working poor, the health system says. They'll be distributed through Greensboro Urban Ministry and 19 local ministries, including FaithStep Ministries, Immanuel Baptist Church, United Montagnard Church, Grace Community Church and The Salvation Army.

For information, call 832-8659.

Alamance County's Department of Public Health now has posted online inspection reports on the facilities it inspects -- restaurants, child-care centers, pools and tattoo parlors among them. To view them, go to http://www.alamance-nc.com, follow the "Health inspections website" link and search by establishment name or from a list of facilities. Reports date back to July.

The National Association of County and City Health Officials and the Centers for Disease Control are sponsoring a Web discussion on how the nation should respond to a pandemic flu outbreak.

From the e-mail:

The chance of a deadly worldwide outbreak of influenza (a pandemic) is increasing, according to experts. Early in such an outbreak, the United States will lack an adequate supply of vaccine. This will be no one's fault. Rather, it will be because developing and making an effective vaccine will take months. The regular flu vaccine we have now probably won't work against any new flu virus powerful enough to cause a pandemic.

If this happens, there will need to be difficult and painful decisions made about how to distribute a limited supply of vaccine. Who should get it first? Who should get it second? What are our priorities?

OK, that's not what it's really called. It's really called National Influenza Vaccination Week, and it runs tomorrow through Dec. 2. Flu sickens millions of Americans each year, and it can be serious. Each year about 36,000 people die of flu or its complications, and about 200,000 are hospitalized with it. So if you haven't gotten a flu vaccination, you probably ought to get one. The Guilford County Department of Public Health has more information here.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is urging people to check online for information on recalls of toys possibly contaminated with lead before they buy gifts. A list is available here.

You also can visit the commission's home page to search for recalls dating back to 1973.

I mentioned last week that Moses Cone Health System's Congregational Nursing Program will be distributing free flu shots at some local ministries. Shots will be available from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. tomorrow at Greensboro Urban Ministry, 305 W. Lee St., targeting the working poor and other people who otherwise might not be able to get flu shots. For more information, call 832-8659.