By Alexandra Newman
“People are falling through the cracks,” a program manager at Area Agency on Aging (AAA) told me during a recent meeting.
They were talking about seniors who desperately need someone to help them understand their Medicare benefits, but a change to the state’s Medicare Assistance hotline has made it more difficult for people to get connected to their local Medicare Assistance counselors.
Previously, calls to the state’s Medicare Assistance number rang directly to our office. Now, they are first answered by 211—a free, confidential information and referral service—which either sets an appointment or sends an electronic referral to us. While this change was designed to centralize support, it has introduced an additional step that can sometimes lead to delays or frustration for callers who are already navigating complex health decisions. Further complicating matters, technical issues within the state’s systems have often disrupted the referral process, making it more difficult for individuals to connect with local counselors in a timely and consistent way.
“They finally get to me and they’re so angry,” the program manager explained.
Area Agency on Aging staff are encouraged to find solutions to roadblocks like this, and so that’s why I’m writing this column: to help educate the public about our Medicare Assistance program and the best way for you to get the Medicare Assistance you need.
Last year, you might remember, the program was called MMAP (Michigan Medicare Assistance Program). Now, it’s called SHIP (State Health Insurance Program) but that’s not really what matters.
What matters is that free, unbiased Medicare assistance continues to be available right here in Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren counties—just as it has been since 1994. While funding for this program is constrained and future support is not without uncertainty, our commitment to providing this vital service remains unwavering. We are fully invested in ensuring that older adults in our community have access to the guidance they need to make informed decisions about their health coverage – and we’re as busy as ever.
As we move into Medicare Open Enrollment, Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, our team of local Medicare counselors are available to meet with you and go over your health benefit coverage. They’re already scheduling appointments.
Last year, AAA served 1,458 clients with over 1,200 hours of health benefits counseling, saving consumers a total of $1.3 million. That’s an average of about $891 per person right here in our tri-county area. That’s huge.
We’re not insurance brokers, so we’re not trying to sell you anything, we just want to get you the information you need to make an informed decision.
Another important thing to know is what the best phone number is to reach us. You have options depending on if you have any other questions or not.
If you want to make a Medicare counseling appointment and don’t have any other questions, call 269-408-4354.
If you want to make an appointment, but might also have some other questions, call the Info-Line for Aging and Disability at 1-800-654-2810. This rings locally to our aging specialists right here in our St. Joseph office. They can help get you scheduled for a counseling appointment, and/or answer other aging or disability related questions you might have.
If you want to get connected with additional resources, like food, rent assistance and housing, you can call 211, or the state’s general Medicare Assistance line at 1-800-803-7174.
It’s important to know that you have options, and that’s what we do here at Region IV Area Agency on Aging. Our mission is Offering Choices for Independent Lives – and you have many choices when it comes to your health benefits, and even what phone number you can call to get to us.
We’ll never tell you what to do, unless that’s what you need – some of us do have decision paralysis. If that’s you, I’d tell you to call the Info-Line: 800-654-2810.
Let’s work together to not let anyone else fall through the cracks.
The Generations column appears each weekend in The Herald-Palladium.