Three Million Have Applied for Medicare Prescription Drug Plan  

More than three million people have already applied for the extra help available with Medicare prescription drug costs, according to Social Security Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart. The extra help will pay most of the costs of monthly premiums, annual deductibles and prescription co-payments - an average of $2,100 in extra help per year.

In May of this year, Social Security began mailing nearly 19 million applications to potentially eligible Medicare beneficiaries. Applications were mailed over a 12 week period that began in late May and continued through mid August 2005. In July, a new Internet application located at http://www.ssa.gov/prescriptionhelp/ was unveiled allowing people to apply online for extra help with Medicare prescription drug plan costs. More than 1,000 people a day are now applying over the Internet.

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