Republican politicians from President Bush on down are proud of the historic changes in the nation's Medicare program they engineered by adding coverage for prescription drugs. 

But Fred Claus, who lives in Bay Village, is not impressed. "I've voted straight Republican for 50 years," said Claus, 75. "I won't again." 

Medicare is a big part of the reason he has abandoned the party. What should be a clear plus for Republicans, and even lure some Democratic voters, has become mired in confusion. Instead of enthusiasm, Medicare's new prescription drug benefit has prompted something between ambivalence and frustration for Claus and many other Northeast Ohio seniors. 

Stanley Chudzik, 91, ran out of patience just listening to an explanation of the new Medicare-approved drug discount cards at a Lakewood senior center last week. 

"You'll have to hire a $500-an-hour attorney to find out if you'll save five cents," he said. 

If more seniors agree, Republican candidates may not get the credit they hoped for from one of the largest segments of the voting public - a group that provided one out of every five votes cast in 2000. 

More than 41 million Americans, including 1.7 million in Ohio, are enrolled in Medicare, the nation's health insurance program. 

The first phase of the new drug benefit - the sale of temporary drug discount cards, for an annual fee of up to $30 - began last week. Eventually, seniors nationwide will be able to choose among 73 cards, 28 of them available in Ohio, offering a price break on prescriptions. The discounts, which can change weekly on 60,000 drugs, are an interim measure. They'll expire when broader Medicare drug benefits take effect in 2006. 

Republican and Democratic leaders - as well Bush administration officials - are eager to tell seniors how they should feel about the new Medicare drug benefits. Bush, appearing in a multimedia training presentation shown to seniors' counselors last week, said, "For seniors of America, more choices and more control will mean better health care." 

But when the Lakewood Medicare meeting was over, Mary Somerville, 75, decided Bush doesn't deserve praise. 

"He deserves a kick in the pants." 

She disagreed with the prediction of Health and Human Services chief Tommy Thompson, who oversees Medicare and who told The Plain Dealer recently: "The more you learn, the more you'll like it." 

"No," said Somerville. "The more confused you'll get." 

The drug discounts can change weekly and vary depending on which of 50,000 pharmacies a senior uses. Drugs can be dropped from a card's coverage. But seniors can change cards only once, at the end of this year. 

With so many variables, shopping for the best deal will be a burden, said Eileen Regan, director of the Solon Senior Center and a Republican. 

Many Democrats have the same complaint. Yet, like others, Rep. Sherrod Brown, a Lorain Democrat, is walking a political tightrope in meetings with suburban constituents who want details about the drug cards. 

He voted against the landmark Medicare drug legislation on Nov. 22, but he doesn't want to discourage older Ohioans from buying the discount cards if they provide savings. So he tells them, "You should get it if it makes sense for you. Call my office, and we will help you." 

Republicans are more optimistic about the benefit from the discount card, though few are predicting it will help them politically in the short term. 

Republican Sen. George Voinovich and his staff conducted seven meetings throughout the state to educate seniors on the cards and train volunteers to assist in sorting out the best deals, aides say. Other lawmakers also are reaching out to older Ohioans who have questions. 

"I understand when something like this comes out you have got to have a really aggressive program to go out and explain to your customers and help them through that initial sign-up period," said Voinovich. But "once you explain the program to people, they understand it." 

Rep. Paul Gillmor, a Republican from Old Fort, said the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services will monitor the program to safeguard it from fraud and abuse. 

Voinovich's Democratic opponent in the November election, State Sen. Eric Fingerhut of Cleveland, says seniors are frustrated by signs that drug prices are rising just as the discounts become available. He says the program is flawed because, unlike Canada, the U.S. government cannot negotiate for lower prices with drug manufacturers. Congress withheld that authority. 

Still, in Hamilton County, Paul Reidel, director of the Miami Township Senior Citizen Center, said a presentation on the discount program by a Voinovich aide in March drew a positive reaction from 25 to 30 folks at his facility, west of Cincinnati. Despite some confusion about picking the best card, he said, "they're glad for any help they can get, and if it is something they can benefit from, it's great." 

Those with the most to gain from the cards will be low-income seniors, who can get $600 in prescriptions for free. About 330,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Ohio, with individual incomes up to $12,568 and couples up to $16,861, qualify for that benefit. That's about 21 percent of those over 65 years old in the state. 

But many seniors and analysts wonder how far that will stretch when prices are rising three times the rate of inflation and as much as 18 percent a year. 

It didn't help that the cards got off to a rocky start last Monday, with card sponsors saying that prices posted on the Web site (www.medicare.gov) were wrong. Medicare officials denied there were mistakes. 

On Wednesday, Medicare officials said the Web site prices offered savings as much as 17 percent for brand-name drugs. But the latest discount on brand-name drugs from Ohio's Golden Buckeye card is better: saving as much as 21 percent. The card was introduced six months ago and is free for any Ohio resident 60 or older. 

The Bush administration fanned out over the past two weeks to sell the federal program. On Thursday, House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois accused Democrats of trying to "scare and confuse seniors," instead of dispassionately explaining the benefits of the cards. 

Rep. Bob Ney, a Republican from St. Clairsville in eastern Ohio, said Republicans are standing by their claim that the Medicare legislation will provide significant savings, with the discount cards being an important first step. "Promises made are promises kept," he said. 

Some Democrats trashed the program and pointed out that the cost of the broader plan taking effect in 2006 - with Medicare coverage of prescription drugs that goes beyond the discount card - has jumped more than $100 billion from what Congress was told. 

Cleveland Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who is co-chair of the Democratic National Committee, said the last thing seniors want to do is surf the Internet or pore over booklets searching for the best deals. 

The new law, Tubbs Jones said, "is a piece of paper with no benefit for senior citizens. It is a card that gives them nothing." 

But Tubbs Jones, like Brown, is not discouraging low-income Clevelanders from getting discount cards that might offer them the $600 credit. For the right income group - not poor enough for Medicaid and not wealthy enough to afford their medicine - the cards offer help. 

Yet even some seniors most likely to gain from the Republican-backed cards have reservations. 

Emily Eckert, an active 80-year-old who helps serve lunch at the Senior Citizen Resources senior center on Cleveland's West Side, is eligible for the $600. Pam Douglas, an outreach worker at the center, discovered that while searching the Medicare Web site last week for Eckert. 

She found, however, that none of the 15 discount cards offered in Eckert's Brooklyn ZIP code covered two of the four drugs she takes to control diabetes and high blood pressure. 

Even trying to figure out which card Eckert could use for other drugs wasn't easy. After nearly an hour, Eckert had more than two dozen pages of prices - and a cramp in her leg from sitting so long. 

"There are so many options, I can't make my mind," she said. "I'm going to sleep on it."