Less than half of those eligible for subsidies for Medicare's new prescription drug program have submitted the required application forms.

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In Social Security's first status report on the application process, Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart said yesterday that more than 3 million Medicare recipients have applied so far, including 162,700 from Pennsylvania.

But the government estimates that between 7 million and 8 million people may qualify for the subsidies if they applied, she said.

Barnhart did not provide details on how many applicants actually qualified for the subsidies. Nor did she disclose how many additional applications have been received through public assistance offices, where Medicare recipients can also apply for the help.

More details will be available next month, she said.

"We're really pleased with where we are," she said, noting that the agency began mailing applications to about 19 million people who might be eligible in May -- a number far higher, she pointed out, than the number of applicants who likely would qualify.

But consumer advocates, who have expressed concerns that the complex application form may have discouraged applications, noted that it was unclear how many of the 3 million applicants actually were eligible to receive the subsidies.

"The most interesting information was not disclosed," said Robert Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center.

Receiving more than 3 million of 19 million applications "is a pretty good return rate," he said. "But the only relevant information is how many people are enrolled in the program -- how many get help."

"If the overwhelming majority of the 3 million people are eligible, then that's not a bad number. But we don't know that yet," said Vicki Gottlich, a senior policy attorney for the Center for Medicare Advocacy.

Both said the application process could be daunting to some low-income Medicare recipients.

"I know people are having trouble filling out the application," Hayes said. "People are confused and somewhat intimidated."

The application asks for information that many people may not readily know, such as the value of any stocks, bonds or other investments and the cash value of life insurance policies.

Not all low-income Medicare recipients have to apply for subsidies for the new prescription drug program, which begins Jan. 1. Certain groups of people will receive them automatically. They include Supplemental Security Income recipients, people who receive help from the government in paying their Medicare premiums and people who receive both Medicare and Medicaid, so-called "dual eligibles."

They also will be automatically enrolled in a drug plan if they do not choose one.

Medicare recipients who apply for subsidies have to enroll separately in a plan to provide their prescription drug coverage. That enrollment begins Nov. 15.

Individuals and married couples who receive Medicare can qualify for full or partial subsidies if their incomes and assets do not exceed certain limits. A home and vehicles do not count as assets, though other property and the value of life insurance, stocks or bonds is countable.

In Pennsylvania, many low-income residents already have coverage through PACE, the state's prescription drug program.

Consumer advocates are encouraging about 80,000 PACE recipients who would qualify for full subsidies to apply for them, saying they could have lower co-pays through the new federal program. PACE also wants to automatically enroll those recipients in a single drug plan, saying that doing so could save the state $180 million a year in drug costs.

Tom Snedden, program director for PACE, said the agency was ready to help the 80,000 enroll for the subsidies. But without more specific information from Social Security officials on who has been approved for the subsidies, doing so would be difficult, he said.

"We've asked them to tell us who among the 80,000 might be enrolled," he said. "They're saying they can't do that at this point."

Michelle Strollo, a senior policy analyst for the Kaiser Family Foundation, said signing up for the subsidies is crucial for low-income Medicare recipients interested in the new drug coverage.

"If they don't, this drug coverage just won't be affordable to them," she said.

While the cost of the coverage will vary depending on the private drug plan offering the coverage, guidelines allow plans to require a monthly premium of about $32 and a deductible consisting of the first $250 in drug costs. After that, enrollees might have to pay 25 percent of the next $2,000 in prescription bills and all of the next $2,850 in drug costs before virtually all their costs would be covered.

In a report earlier this year, the Access to Benefits Coalition predicted that signing up millions of people for the subsidies would be a daunting task, noting that only about half of older Americans eligible for SSI and 30 percent eligible for food stamps are enrolled in those programs.

The fact that so many applications have been returned is promising, Strollo said. "But there's still a long way to go."