Who Will Swallow Medicare's Bitter Pills?

Lorene Chandler's day begins with a pale green plastic tray and a glass of water. Popping the top of one of the tray's compartments, each marked for a day of the week, she pours out a handful of pills. Capoten, for blood pressure, comes first, on an empty stomach, and then come nine others, with coffee and orange juice and her Grape-Nuts cereal. Like many seniors, Chandler, 79, takes part in another regimen at the end of each month: she gets a ride from her home in Corrigan, Texas, to the drugstore where she sometimes pays as much as $300 to...