You can do the over-the-woods and through-the-river thing if you want, but I’m warning you, once you get to Grandmother’s house, don’t be expecting your usual Thanksgiving feast.

Grandma has no time to cook. She’s much too busy trying to figure out Medicare D, the new drug benefit plan that goes into effect Jan. 1. That’s D for dumbfounded.

A survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard School of Public Health found that more than six in 10 seniors do not understand the drug benefit very well if at all.

An Internet site, Age Beat On-line, lists some of the headlines that greeted the plan: “Confusion is Rife” (New York Times), “Confused by Coverage Choices” (San Francisco Chronicle), “Puzzling out Medicare Part D,” (Aging Today), “Dazed and Confused” (Consumers Union Medicare website).

The New York Times interviewed seniors after they had attended workshops explaining the benefits. Here are some of the comments:

William Q. Beard, 73, retired chemist: “I have a Ph.D. and it’s too complicated to suit me . . . I fervently wish that members of Congress had to deal with the same health care program we do.”

Pauline H. Olney, 74, retired nurse: “The whole thing is hopelessly complicated.”

Paulette Dibbern, retired insurance agent: “Federal officials seem to go on the philosophy, ‘Why keep it simple when you can gum up the works?’”

Edith L. Kohn, 81, retired grocery store cashier: “I don’t understand why they have to make things so darn complicated.”

Raymond L. Middlesworth, 70, retired truck driver: “I’ve tried reading the Medicare book about the drug plan, but I couldn’t make sense of it. This is the biggest mess that Medicare has ever put us through.”

Becki Andrist, 33, my above-average-bright daughter-in-law: “I worked on it a little bit with my dad. I was confused, and he uses only a few prescription drugs.”

Mary Koch, 61, newspaper columnist: “I don’t qualify for Medicare yet, but I’m going to look into my husband’s benefits any day now. After all, I have until the end of the year, right?”

OK. So the last two weren’t interviewed by the New York Times.

For years senior citizens demanded a drug benefit. The government finally provides and what happens? Our “greatest generation” is beginning to sound as whiney as baby boomers.

No wonder Michael O. Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human Services, responded: “Health care is complicated. We acknowledge that. Lots of things in life are complicated: filling out a tax return, registering your car, getting cable television. It is going to take time for seniors to become comfortable with the drug benefit.”

Now there’s a man with empathy. He understands that what every senior citizen wants is yet one more complication in life.

Please note, the government is here to help. There’s the web site, www.medicare.gov. Trouble is, the Kaiser/Harvard survey found that 75 percent of seniors have never been on the Internet.

Which brings us back to Thanksgiving. Here’s my advice: You young’uns, take your laptops along to Grandmother’s house. Let Grandma tackle the turkey while you work on the other turkey - uh, no; I won’t go that far - while you figure out her Medicare D options on the World Wide Web.

For those who don’t have Internet access, and even if you do, the Washington State Insurance Commissioner’s office offers a volunteer program to help people sort out insurance issues: SHIBA - Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors. Call toll-free 1-800-562-6900.

Mary Koch is caregiver for her husband, John E. Andrist, a stroke survivor. They welcome your comments at P.O. Box 3346, Omak WA 98841 or e-mail marykoch@marykoch.com. Recent columns are on the Internet at www.marykoch.com.