AARP Hawaii officials have been receiving calls every day from senior citizens who say they've been solicited by various health insurance carriers to join their drug benefit plans even before the solicitations are supposed to begin next month.

The state, Medicare and elderly advocates have been telling Hawai'i senior citizens to expect an onslaught of come-ons beginning next month from 12 different organizations offering as many as 35 different drug plans — all to take advantage of Medicare's goal to provide a drug benefit program beginning in January, known as "Medicare Part D."

The early solicitations have only added to the confusion among senior citizens who are already struggling to decide whether they should sign up for Medicare Part D and whether they should switch drug plans.

"We have told people to be careful," said Barbara Kim Stanton, AARP Hawaii's state director. "Some of the insurance companies have started marketing ahead of the official start date. We've been getting a handful of calls every day from people asking us what they signed up for. "

Seniors who recently signed up for a new plan often have been erroneously told that they are now enrolled in the upcoming Medicare plan, Stanton said.

Since Medicare's enrollment period doesn't begin until Nov. 15, "that's not possible," Stanton said.

Instead, they probably joined a supplemental drug plan that will automatically enroll them in Medicare Part D when it does become available, Stanton said.

"If they've already signed up for something, they may be locked into that," Stanton said. "If the applicant decides to choose another Medicare Part D plan, they can do that in November. But they have to consciously sign up."

Eighty-year-old Bob Thomas of Waikiki counts himself among the confused.

"I've been hearing about this and glancing at the information," Thomas said. But he still needs help figuring out whether the new Medicare drug benefit will be the best way to pay for his medications to combat high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

Thomas called his out-of-pocket drug costs of $500 to $600 per year "not that bad. But I'm worried about getting socked in the future," he said.

Senior citizens like Thomas need to arm themselves with information about the Medicare benefit, Stanton said. They should also expect to receive letters from their current drug plans in the next few weeks declaring whether they are equal or better than what Medicare will offer in January.

Retired county, state and federal employees currently have plans that are better than what Medicare will offer, Stanton said, as well as many retired union members and many veterans.

"We want them to see the full array of options before they select a plan," Stanton said.

An estimated 186,157 senior citizens in the Islands are believed to be eligible for what Medicare officials are calling the most significant change to Medicare in its 40-year history.

The premium for the Medicare drug plan is estimated to cost about $27 each month in Hawai'i, which would be the lowest in the country after Minnesota.

Senior citizens in the plan also will have to pay the first $250 of their drug costs each year — and 25 percent of their drug costs from $250 to $2,250.

For many senior citizens, the most difficult part will be figuring out whether their current — or future — drug costs will run from $2,250 to $5,100 per year. If their costs fall into what the AARP calls the "doughnut hole" of $2,250 to $5,100 per year, senior citizens in the program will have to pay 100 percent of their drug costs.

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.