I am a volunteer senior counselor and have extensive experience with Medicare plans. Yes, there are problems. No, it is not perfect. Yes, it is confusing. Anything that is new and as massive an effort as financial assistance for prescription drugs is destined to have its problems. Senior advocates like myself have been trying for years to get Congress to provide some financial assistance to seniors under the Medicare system. We finally have a plan in place that, in coming years, can be modified and improved and tailored to the needs of our senior and disabled population.

Recently I assisted my aunt in enrolling in a plan of her choice. She has an $11.25 monthly premium and is now paying $30 for her asthma inhaler that last year cost her $130. The comfort she has is that if she gets sick, she has the insurance through Medicare that will cover 95 percent of the cost of any prescriptions that she needs beyond the $5,100 ceiling.

This is called the Catastrophic Medicare Benefit.

One of the most important benefits of the Medicare Modernization Act is the financial assistance to limited-income seniors. This population will now qualify for full prescription drug coverage, with no premiums, no deductibles, no gap in coverage, and unlimited coverage with a co-pay as low as $2 for generic and $5 for branded.

It would be a positive step forward if our elected representatives like Lois Capps would spend the same time and energ, in working with Congress to fix the problems and improve the existing program. Her time has been spent the last three years voting against benefits for seniors, trashing the program, trying to overturn the legislation, misleading the public and discouraging her constituents from participating in a new Medicare benefit.

Medicare is not a Republican benefit or a Democrat benefit. It is an American benefit. A great society has the responsibility to care for its elderly and disabled.

— Dennis J. Jurcak, Camarillo