Medicare Applications Sent to Low-Income Americans

March 29, 2005

Medicare Applications Sent to Low-Income Americans

By ROBERT PEAR

ASHINGTON, March 28 - The Bush administration said Monday that it had sent the first of some 20 million applications to low-income people who might qualify for financial assistance with Medicare's new prescription drug benefit.

But lawyers and other advocates for low-income people said the form was so complex that they expected fewer than 5 percent of the people to respond.