Starting this week, the federal government will be mailing $250 checks to senior citizens with high prescription drug costs. Hundreds of elderly and disabled Mainers getting health coverage through the Medicare program are expected to qualify for the drug rebate check.

"Folks do not have to do anything, and actually, we ask them to please not do anything," says Helen Mulligan, a Medicare spokeswoman. Mulligan says that the program tracks its members' drug expenses, and will automatically issue a check once drug costs hit $2,830.

Medicare beneficiaries have to pay the next $3,610 on their own before Medicare coverage kicks in again -- a coverage gap known as the doughnut hole. Mulligan says 4 million Americans will qualify for the rebates, which will be issued on a quarterly basis.

"For those who hit the doughnut hole between January and March, they'll be receiving their checks probably starting this week into next week. If there are any questions -- you thought you should have have received it and have not yet -- please call 1-800-medicare," Mulligan advises.

Even though the checks are generated automatically, the federal government is starting to get reports of scam artists telling seniors they will help procure the check for a fee.

No cases have been reported in Maine so far, but Katlyn Blackstone of the Southern Maine Agency on Aging is among those advocates warning seniors to beware of phone callers asking for personal information, like social security numbers.

"If they're contacted by somebody like this, they should hang up the phone immediately and not give any information and they should let someone know -- the Attorney General's Office, is what we're being told."

Advocates acknowledge that the checks will not be the answer to seniors' problems. Cheryl Matheis of the advocacy group, AARP, for example, notes that drug costs have risen by 9 percent over last year.

"But it is a both symbolic and real gesture that shows them that the doughnut hole is going to be closed gradually and it helps them with some of their drug costs this year," Matheis says.

The work of closing the gap begins in 2011, as part of the health care overhaul passed by Congress this spring. Seniors who fall into the doughnut hole will receive a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs and 7 percent off generics. The discounts will gradually increase until the doughnut hole is eliminated in 2020.