Government officials say the site will be updated every Monday with the remaining companies, as well as price changes. Benefits start as early as June 1. Those on Medicaid are not eligible. And seniors with a Medicare managed care plan, such as HIP VIP, cannot choose another Medicare-approved discount card if theirs is offering one.

Television ads and brochures targeting many of the 41 million Medicare beneficiaries will roll out Monday. A Medicare Services spokesman said the agency expects 7.3 million people will sign up. And more than half of those will be eligible for the low-income benefit. But to qualify for the low-income benefit - an additional $600 cash toward drugs - a single person has to make less than $12,569 or a married couple less than $16,862. The top question to the Medicare help line, which has been receiving triple the usual amount of calls, has been about this benefit.

Newsday Photos / Mayita Mendez - 1) A PANEL led by Sen. [Martin Golden], above, 2) on the drug discount cards and the new Medicare bill drew anxious listeners in Bay Ridge. 3) [Jo Benfanti] of Bensonhurst, 4) Newsday Photo / David L. Pokress - Pharmacist [Jorge Winter] of Ocean Chemists in Oceanside says he's getting questions about the benefit on a daily basis. 4) NEWSDAY PHOTO / MAYITA MENDEZ - MANY GATHERED at the Bay Ridge Senior Center yesterday for a panel led by state Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) said the drug discount card plan confused them. (A06)