This comprehensive survey of seniors about the Medicare drug benefit finds that many seniors remain uncertain about how the new benefit will affect them and unsure about whether they will enroll.  Seniors who say they understand the benefit well are more likely to report favorable views than those who do not.

The survey examines in depth what seniors know and understand about the new benefit and what they think about its potential helpfulness.  It was conducted and analyzed by researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health.  Fieldwork was done by telephone by ICR/International Communications Research between October 13 and October 31, 2005, among a nationally representative sample of 802 respondents 65 years of age and older.

This survey is part of an ongoing effort to track seniors’ views on the Medicare prescription drug benefit, which has included three earlier comprehensive surveys about Medicare and five tracking polls which included questions about the benefit.

 News Release

 Chartpack 

 Toplines

The survey was released at a November 10, 2005 briefing:

 Agenda (.pdf)

 Speaker Biographies (.pdf)

 Webcast