It took Bernice Johnson's son and a friend a little more than a week to comb through the state's 40-plus prescription drug plans and determine which would be best for the 86-year-old.

Johnson, who says she's "very happy'' with her son's choice under the Medicare Part D plan, is among roughly 223,000 Medicare recipients in Nevada to so far meet the May 15 enrollment deadline.

Approximately 78,000 others have yet to sign up, and they face paying heftier premiums if they enroll after the deadline.

Johnson, a widow, says the plan saves her a few bucks.

James Quinn, an 83-year-old Las Vegas resident who is diabetic and suffers from a heart condition, has a different story.

He is one of thousands of Nevada seniors automatically enrolled in a federal prescription drug plan on Jan. 1. Quinn was enrolled through his former employer's retirement plan.

He is not happy with his new plan under the federal Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act. He says his drug costs have tripled.

"My pension isn't going up, but my prescription drugs are,'' said Quinn, who had prescription drug coverage through Senior Dimensions. "I wonder how many other seniors are sitting around with private insurances from their previous employers, and it just got wiped out because of Bush's plan.''

Quinn's and Johnson's stories are typical examples of experiences Medicare and Medicaid recipients have experienced under the new prescription drug law. The law, signed by President Bush in 2003, was intended to provide seniors and the disabled with a prescription drug benefit, more choices and better coverage under Medicare.

Medicare was created by the federal government in 1965 to lift older adults out of poverty, but it didn't cover prescription drugs.

Since then, mostly throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the federal government witnessed dramatic increases in enrollment which drew concerns about the program's rising costs. By the 1990s, the debate heightened as policymakers realized the impending retirement of baby boomers, coupled with overall increases in health care, might put severe strains on Medicare.

The prescription drug act was enacted to relieve some of those strains.

However, the process in getting eligible Americans enrolled has caused frustration for states' Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, volunteers and seniors themselves.

"We have had a few kinks, especially with those dual eligibles -- or people who have both Medicare and Medicaid,'' said Marilyn Wills, director of the State Health Insurance Assistance Program, or SHIP. The SHIP program is working with senior centers and other agencies throughout Nevada to help people enroll in a prescription drug plan.

As of April 18, more than 30 million Medicare recipients were enrolled in a new drug plan nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. About 12 million who are eligible have not signed up, according to those figures.

The state of Nevada has enrolled about 74 percent of its Medicare recipients into a plan, while the nation as a whole has enrolled about 71 percent.

According to a survey by AARP, 78 percent of those enrolled say they are satisfied.

Of those surveyed who had prescription drug coverage before 2006, 63 percent reported their Medicare Part D plan is better or as good as their previous coverage. However, about 17 percent felt their new coverage is worse than what they had in 2005 and in prior years.

Quinn is one of those in the minority.

"I'm frustrated,'' said Quinn, who received a letter from his former employer, ConArga Foods, in September alerting him of his retirement benefits and how it would be in his best interest to keep that plan instead of enrolling in a Part D plan.

Quinn took the advice, doing nothing.

But his Senior Dimensions prescription drug plan was converted into a Part D plan in January.

Under his pension plan, Quinn paid $4 per prescription for a three-month supply. He takes 10 medications which equaled $40 per quarter or $160 per year. With the Medicare plan, six of Quinn's drugs cost $7 each for a three-month's supply, while the other three cost $30 each for that same time period.

"I went up to Sav-on and I said, 'Here are my prescriptions. How much are they going to cost me?''' he said. "I didn't get some of them filled. I am going to have to make a serious decision. It's a good thing I sold my house after my wife died because I need that money now to pay for medicine.''

Johnson said she too was concerned about enrolling in a plan and, had it not been for her son, she probably wouldn't have.

"I liked what I had,'' she said. "I watched my son go through an awful lot to get me coverage.''

Although state Medicare officials are confident they will get most, if not all, the remaining eligible Nevadans enrolled, there is still concern that they might not reach all of the low-income and disabled individuals who also qualify for prescription help.

These are individuals of any age who earn less than $14,700 a year and do not have any other outside sources of income above $10,000. Couples who earn less than $19,800 and receive no more than $20,000 in outside sources of income also qualify for prescription drug assistance under Medicare Part D, said Rita Meier, a spokeswoman for the Social Security Administration in Southern Nevada.

The enrollment deadline for low-income people has been extended indefinitely by the federal government.

It is estimated that of the 42 million Medicare recipients eligible for Medicare Part D, 6.4 million are very low-income individuals. In Nevada, there are an estimated 141,000 people who fall in this category. About 90,000 live in Southern Nevada, Meier said.

"We're doing what we can to get to these people,'' she said.

Meier said some people may not have read the mailers sent to them or they just aren't interested in the help.