By most accounts, response by seniors to the new Medicare drug-discount card program, which kicked off Tuesday, has been underwhelming. While a little more than half of the 4.5 million people in Medicare HMOs automatically will receive cards, fewer than a million in traditional fee-for-service Medicare have signed up for them, the New York Times reports.

The card program, set up in the Medicare reform Congress passed last year, will provide discounts of 15 percent to more than 25 percent off regular drug prices, officials say. The card can cost up to $30 a year, but many cards are lower or even free.

Critics say the plan - particularly the Web site at www.medicare.gov explaining it - is confusing, with 40 national and 33 regional cards available, and that the benefits may not be worth the trouble. But seniors should study their options and give the card program a fair chance during this shakeout period. Despite its shortcomings, the plan provides many seniors with savings that weren't available before.

And they should remember that it's an initial, almost stopgap measure, in a comprehensive Medicare reform that will kick in in 2006, offering a wide range of substantial benefits.

As "Your voice" columnist Dr. Paul J. Nugent points out (here), the average patient then will save $500 a year, and those with very high, "catastrophic" drug costs will be well covered, with Medicare paying 95 percent of all costs over $3,600 a year.

Low-income seniors - a category that amounts to about 40 percent of all seniors in our area - get a $600-a-year drug subsidy immediately with the card, and in 2006 will get free or drastically reduced-price drug coverage.

Perhaps more important, the reform institutes a range of preventive benefits, including a wellness exam for those enrolling in Medicare, which could help improve the nation's health and control medical costs long-term. And it introduces new elements of competition and transparency to the health care market.

Medicare reform has been a highly politicized issue, of course, and last year's bill was an awkward, difficult compromise. But most agree it represents some progress. Americans should keep in mind that the new drug-discount card plan is not the reform's final result, but just a first step in addressing the rising costs of medical care.