New Website Tool Helps Seniors Get Medicare Drug Card Information Online

New Website Tool Helps Seniors Get Medicare Drug Card Information Online

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Generations on Line, a national nonprofit Internet literacy program for seniors, today announced a simple new way for seniors to access the new Medicare drug benefit online.

The easiest and fastest way for seniors to get drug discount savings from Medicare is through the Internet, where they answer a series of online questions on the Medicare website, said Tobey Dichter, founder and chief executive officer of Generations on Line. However, a new national survey of older Americans (e-health and the Elderly: How Seniors Use the Internet for Health) by the Kaiser Family Foundation released last month found that only 2% of all seniors had gone online to Medicare.gov. Nearly 80% of people over 65 don't have access to computers or aren't computer literate, according to the Pew Internet & American Life 2004 study.

To address these issues, Generations on Line has developed a free, simplified interface designed exclusively for novice senior computer users that enables them to use the Medicare site despite their lack of computer experience. http://www.golmedicare.org/.

The new website provides onscreen instructions to help those less familiar with computing to enroll in the new drug card benefits and determine eligibility for a $600 drug credit for low-income seniors. The website -- http://www.golmedicare.org/ -- is available free to any senior or caretaker who wishes to use it.

"This is a good example of the importance of closing the digital divide among seniors," Ms. Dichter said. "In addition to the new Medicare tutorial, Generations on Line provides a simplified Internet program for seniors in more than 1000 senior centers, public libraries, nursing and retirement homes across the country, providing free simplified email, searching in 36 languages, and an intergenerational cultural exchange about the past," she said.

For more information go to http://www.generationsonline.org/ or call 215 222 6400. For more help on Medicare, call 1 800medicare or http://www.medicare.gov/.

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link. Tobey Dichter http://www.profnet.com/ud_public.jsp?userid=507124


Source: Generations on Line

CONTACT: Tobey Dichter, +1-215-922-3244, tobeydichter@att.net, or VJ
Pappas, +1-610-664-2793, vjpappas@snip.net, both for Generations on Line

Web site: http://www.golmedicare.org/

Web site: http://www.medicare.gov/

Web site: http://www.generationsonline.org/


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