Medicare Open Enrollment: October 15 – December 7

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October 15th thru December 7th is the 2018 Medicare Open Enrollment period. Robin Thompson, Information and Assistance Director with the Senior LinkAge Line®, reminds us that, “This is the time of year that people on Medicare should be evaluating their coverage for 2018.” She goes on to say, “There are only a few special circumstances when a person can make a plan change beyond these dates, so it is important to use this time to make the best decision possible for you.”

Every year after open enrollment ends, the Senior LinkAge Line® receives calls from people who failed to open their mail and read about their current drug plan changes for the coming year. It isn’t until the first bill for the new year is received, or the beneficiary, is charged more at the pharmacy, that they realize their plan has changed. For most of these beneficiaries it is too late to make a change for that year. Since there are so many changes every year, the Senior LinkAge Line® recommends that each person review their options for the next year and open and read every piece of mail received from their plan.

A few reasons to consider a “re-evaluation” of your Part D plan:

  • Monthly premiums for each plan will most likely change
  • Your medication list may have changed in the last year
  • Plan formularies (the list of drugs covered by the plan) may change and the cost-sharing may change (amount you pay for the drug under a plan)
  • You may be eligible for the “extra help” offered to pay premiums and reduce co-pay amounts (applications are accepted at any time of the year)

Using the official Medicare.gov prescription plan comparison tool, which can be found at www.medicare.gov , allows beneficiaries to view a clear comparison of their current plan with other plans available in 2018. The plan comparison tool will present the cost of the individual’s medications in each plan offered in Minnesota. With this knowledge, a person can make a sound decision on a drug plan and prepare for the coming year with confidence and peace of mind.

If you or someone you know needs help evaluating their coverage, contact the Senior LinkAge Line® at 1-800-333-2433. The Senior LinkAge Line® is a free statewide service of the Minnesota Board on Aging and Area Agencies on Aging. Specialists provide one-to-one assistance with helping older adults age well and live well. The Senior LinkAge Line® is the federally-designated State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) for Minnesota and is the place to call for Medicare and health insurance issues. Call 1-800-333-2433 for assistance Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 4:30pm.

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State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) Funding at Risk

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As the director of the Minnesota River Area Agency on Aging, I want to raise awareness to the risk to State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) funding, greatly impacting Medicare services provided to Minnesota seniors and disabled Minnesotans under age 65 who receive Medicare benefits.

The Minnesota Board on Aging and Area Agencies on Aging provide the statewide Senior LinkAge Line® service, which is Minnesota’s federally designated SHIP.  Our role as SHIP is to provide individualized, objective Medicare counseling to help Minnesota Medicare beneficiaries decide what is best for them.

The President’s proposed budget does not provide funding for SHIP.  In addition, due to Congressional budget issues, we only received four months of current SHIP funding, instead of the full grant award.  This seriously threatens the Senior LinkAge Line’s® ability to serve Minnesota’s nearly 956,000 Medicare beneficiaries, a rapidly growing sector of the population. Without SHIP funding, Medicare counseling efforts will dramatically change.

Also of concern is that Medicare Cost plans are scheduled to end December 2018, forcing 386,000 Minnesotans to make major decisions about their Medicare coverage.  Unless Congress acts, these decisions will have to be made without the assistance of SHIP (the Senior LinkAge Line®).  Medicare Cost plans are the most popular plan option in Minnesota.  They offer consumers the option of using Original Medicare benefits for services outside their plan network.

As Medicare becomes increasingly more complex, consumers must bear the burden of fully understanding all of their options and making good choices for themselves.  If beneficiaries do not choose the plan that is the best fit for them, they could enroll in a plan that does not cover their provider or prescription drugs, and they may have to pay a higher premium. If they miss their enrollment window, they may have to pay premium penalties for the rest of their lives.

Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers across the state increasingly have come to depend upon SHIP services.  The Minnesota River Area Agency on Aging is very concerned with any loss of SHIP funding.  We ask for your support to ensure that Congress fully funds SHIP and resolves the budgetary issues that threaten the funding of this critical program.

Thank you for your assistance with this important issue.

Sincerely,

Linda Giersdorf, Executive Director

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MNRAAA Volunteers: The Ripple Effect of Outreach

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Sarah Reiman, LSW, Volunteer Coordinator

“Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.” ~ Dalai Lama

Recently, one of our staff had the pleasure of receiving a message from a VERY satisfied consumer who had just learned she received a $6,000 grant to pay for one of her medications. This is after she had also found out a month earlier that she qualified to get one of her expensive medications for free from a patient assistance program. She was elated! This type of news is always so exciting for staff and volunteers at the Senior LinkAge Line®. It is helpful to be reminded that our efforts can be life changing! So, you might be asking yourself, “how did this happen?”. Sometimes it is the ripple effect of one simple action that leads to positively changing a person’s life! So, the story goes…

One of our amazing volunteers was assigned to complete a dining site assessment at a senior center in a small town in southwest Minnesota. She was impressed by the senior center coordinator, who was enthusiastic and determined to create an environment in which the seniors in the community could socialize and be connected to the resources available to them.

The volunteer returned from her dining site assessment and sent an email to the Senior LinkAge Line® outreach staff in that community encouraging her to reach out to the senior center coordinator. This connection led to several outreach events being conducted at the dining site, including a Medicare Open Enrollment site this past fall.

The consumer had been using up her small savings account and stressing about affording her medications when she met with one of the Senior LinkAge Line® staff at the Medicare Open Enrollment site and voiced distress at her high medication costs. Unfortunately, she was $85.00 above the income guideline for the Extra Help Program (a program through Social Security that would have significantly reduced her out-of-pocket costs). The staff person assisted the consumer with an application for a patient assistance program to pay for one expensive medication and another application for a foundation to help with the costs of a second medication. This assistance reduced her out-of-pocket costs from over $6,000 a year to nearly nothing.

Senior Outreach Specialist, Bridget Schwebach, said: “This just goes to show how VERY valuable the work Senior LinkAge Line® volunteers do can be for seniors in their communities! Even if they are not the ones that directly provide the assistance that ends in an outcome like this one….it is the work they do every day by telling people about the Senior LinkAge Line® that leads to a result like what happened here!”

To learn more about volunteer opportunities, and to add your pebble to the ripple effect of serving older adults and caregivers in your community, contact Sarah Reiman, Volunteer Coordinator, at 1-800-333-2433 x82026 or sreiman@mnraaa.org.

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Help for older adults and their family members is just a phone call away

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Life can change in a heartbeat.

By KAY JOHNSON Hutchinson Leader

All it takes is for an older family member to have a health crisis. In the blink of an eye, life can get outrageously complicated. You are plunged into an alien world of Medicare, hospital and nursing home stays, assisted living, ER visits, medical equipment, home health services, funeral planning and more.

This new reality is just as foreign as walking down a street in Kathmandu, Nepal. It has its own language and it’s just as easy to get lost.

If it feels overwhelming, the good news is — help is available in the form of the Senior LinkAge Line® at 800-333-2433. Sponsored by the Minnesota Board on Aging and the Minnesota River Area Agency on Aging, its trained specialists can help you navigate this new landscape of services.

To read more, visit http://bit.ly/2qly0vY

Republished with permission from author.

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