But that's what you get when a president and Republican-controlled Congress who owe much of their souls to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries craft a law to "help" the elderly pay for their prescription drugs. Most of the "help" goes to the corporations, and little to the men and women on Medicare.

Nevertheless, the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans, a consortium of union and community retirees and organizations representing senior citizens, has been holding a series of meetings around the state to educate as best they can eligible seniors on the program. When they can't answer some of the questions, they refer folks to the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups, which has been working diligently to explain the nuances of Medicare Part D.

And when seniors throw up their hands in disgust which is frequently the case the alliance urges them to at least enroll in Wisconsin's own SeniorCare program at a cost of $30 per year. Even if they don't or can't use the program, which is open to everyone in Wisconsin age 65 and over, just being a part of it protects them from paying penalties if at a later date they decide to enroll in Medicare Part D.

But the ultimate goal of the alliance's meetings is to get Congress to fix the mess it created.

Billy Feitlinger, the Wisconsin Alliance's field organizer, and three of its officers Buzz Davis, Darold Lowe and Alan Knop stopped by the other day to share some of the tales they've heard at the senior citizens' meetings, the most recent of which was held in Sun Prairie.

"There's such frustration out there that it's unbelievable," Feitlinger reported.

Lowe said that often the seniors are told to go to Medicare's Web site for more information.

"Most of these people are 70 to 75 years old," he added. "Half of them don't have a computer nor do they know how to use one."

Here in Wisconsin alone there are more than 40 plans offered by private insurance companies (the law requires that private insurers handle the drug benefit). A plan, for example, might cover some of the drugs a senior may be required to take, but not all of them. Once you sign up you're committed for a year so if a health problem emerges during the year and a drug is prescribed that isn't on your plan's list, you're out of luck until next year. Worse, the insurance companies can change their plans with just 30 days' notice.

Then there's the infamous "doughnut hole," which suspends coverage once drug costs hit $2,250 in a single year. Coverage doesn't kick in again until costs reach $5,100. Davis estimates that about 40 percent of Medicare recipients will hit that doughnut. And, of course, the program is far from free. Monthly premiums are roughly $32, the beneficiary pays the first $250, then 25 percent of the next $2,000.

"The coverage is a joke," Davis remarked. "And then Congress includes a provision that makes it illegal to buy supplemental insurance to cover some of these deficiencies."

So the alliance is collecting signatures on petitions to get the next Congress to change things among them, eliminate the doughnut hole, allow Medicare to negotiate prices with the pharmaceuticals just as the Department of Veterans Affairs does now and prohibit insurance companies from changing plans before the next year.

"We're telling people this law is ridiculous and we need to change it," Feitlinger added.

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