Senator Bob Dole today announced the launch of a podcast series featuring Medicare beneficiaries from across the country giving first-hand accounts of their experiences with the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

The weekly podcast, titled Success: The Benefits of the New Medicare Drug Plan, will be updated every Monday and can be found on Senator Dole’s Medicare campaign Web site.

The campaign is is being supported in part by a grant from Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company. Dole previously introduced another Pfizer-sponsored podcast, Ten Things Seniors Need to Know about Medicare‚Äôs Drug Coverage.

“Now is the time for seniors to learn about their options and decide if they want to enroll,” said Dole. “There will be a lot of people around willing to help; people that have the answers or know how to get the answers and they can help you make a decision. But it has to be your decision.”

The premiere episode (MP3) features three Medicare beneficiaries, who share how enrolling in a Medicare drug plan has lowered their prescription drug costs and improved the quality of their lives.

After enrolling in Medicare Part D, Dick Miller, a 72-year-old from Pittsburgh, PA is experiencing dramatic savings in his health care costs. “My premium is now 45 dollars a month instead of 95. The new drug benefit is a great step forward in the right direction, and will help lower the drug costs of many seniors in the United States,” said Miller.

Debby Waldinger of Yorba Linda, CA believes that all qualifying seniors should look into the new drug coverage. Her 88-year-old mother enrolled in Medicare’s drug coverage for 2006. “I would have to tell every senior out there who qualifies that this is a fabulous program. They will be saving money for their future, and they’ll be saving money for their further future, when they are going to be taking more medicines as they age,” said Waldinger.

Before enrolling in Part D, 65-year-old Edith Kennedy of Tempe, AZ was losing a lot of her income to prescription drug co-payments. Now, Kennedy is encouraging others to look into this exciting opportunity. “It’s been a godsend having this new Medicare program. I was kind of skeptical, but now that I’m on it, it’s the best plan that they came up with for years, and I wish everybody could get involved in it or would get involved in it because it’ll help them just like it helped me,” said Kennedy.