Hollister
– When the big, red-and-blue Medicare bus pulled into town on
Monday, a line was already forming outside Jovenes de Antaño, the
local senior center.
Hollister – When the big, red-and-blue Medicare bus pulled into town on Monday, a line was already forming outside Jovenes de Antaño, the local senior center.
When the bus drove away, more than 50 local residents had received responses to their questions, complaints and concerns about Medicare and its coverage of prescription drugs.
As she waited for her counseling session, 89-year-old Agnes Perry said, “My, what a big operation they have here.”
Perry said she’s already happy with her prescription drug coverage, but she visited the senior center anyway “to see if (I’m) up to snuff.”
When asked about the quality of her insurance, she said, “So far, everything’s been all right.”
But when Perry finished talking with a local Medicare counselor, she reported that she had changed plans, a switch that could save her around $200 a month.
“We’ll give it a try,” she said.
Naresh Kumar, 38, said he decided to stick with his current plan, but was still grateful for the advice he’d received.
“They were very, very helpful,” Kumar said. “They cleared all of our doubts.”
Hollister is only one stop on the Medicare bus’s agenda. Regional administrator Jeff Flick said he will spend 10 days on tour, driving through California, Arizona and New Mexico; two more buses are touring other regions of the country. At each stop, the four core staff members are joined by local counselors.
Medicare’s prescription drug benefit is entering its second year, but this is the bus’s first visit to San Benito County. Flick said the program is making an effort this year to visit locales that were overlooked during the tour in 2005.
“We love to get out into communities,” Flick said. “We’re trying to help them understand what the options are.”
Although 95 percent of California’s Medicare beneficiaries have prescription drug coverage, Flick still thinks there’s a lot of work to do – both reaching out to the remaining 5 percent and ensuring that everyone is on the best plan.
“Last year, we just wanted to get them into some kind of plan,” Flick said. “This year we’re trying to be a little more precise, trying to find a plan that’s more ideal for them. It depends on the individual circumstances for the seniors.”
The U.S. government announced last year that Medicare, a federally funded health insurance program aimed primarily at seniors, would be offering financial support for prescription drugs. However, the initial round of praise was followed by confusion, as beneficiaries attempted to choose from a wide range of plans, many of them with gaps in coverage that became known as “doughnut holes.”
“(People) didn’t have any idea,” Flick said. “We were starting from ground zero. … I think a lot of people got a good education during the past year, but they still want some help.”
Most of the seniors interviewed by the Free Lance said they are happy with their prescription drug coverage, even if they aren’t familiar with all the details. A number of attendees, including 84-year-old Eugene Bozzo, said their medication is covered under non-Medicare plans, but they still wanted to speak to counselors and ensure that they were making the right decision. Bozzo said he’s satisfied with the insurance provided by the American Association for Retired Persons, but when asked about the details of his plan, he said, “I don’t know nothing about that insurance stuff.”
Open enrollment for next year’s Medicare plans ends on Dec. 31.
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at (831) 637-5566 ext. 330 or ah*@fr***********.com.
