Quitting Too Soon Risks Benefits
In the wake of more announcements by Medicare managed-care plans leaving the Spokane area at year’s end, it probably bears repeating: Don’t be too hasty to disenroll.
Beneficiaries who jump ship without first making sure they are adequately covered by a new plan risk losing vitally important insurance protections, cautions the Seattle Regional Office of the Health Care Financing Administration, which runs Medicare.
Medicare beneficiaries may apply for a Medigap (fee-based supplemental) policy to fill gaps in Medicare coverage before they are terminated by their Medicare managed-care plan on Dec. 1, 1999. But if they disenroll before that date, they lose the guarantee of coverage for pre-existing conditions and the guarantee of nondiscrimination in pricing premiums.
HCFA’s toll-free Medicare Choices Help Line is staffed from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Call (800) 633-4227. The Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors (SHIBA) also offers free unbiased advice. Phone (800) 397-4422.
Joe Collins can’t help feeling a little put out by the technological revolution.
In particular, it perturbs him that so many in the mass media seem to assume that everyone else is enthralled by the Internet like they themselves are when, in fact, a great many older readers have no desire to play that game.
Too often, news stories refer readers to Web sites for in-depth information instead of providing the details, Collins complains.
“There are all sorts of ways to get information without going through the Internet,” says the Dishman resident. “Instead of relegating readers to the Web, news people should point out other sources of information and advice - libraries, corporations, places that you can write.”
The nation’s growing preoccupation with pushbuttons leaves the Spokane Valley septuagenarian shaking his head. To him, computer games, the Internet, electronic shopping and online banking are uncivilizing.
“People aren’t getting out and talking to each other face to face the way we used to,” laments the retired jewelry manufacturer.
“They’re sitting in front of these boxes in a little corner of the house pressing buttons instead of getting to know the bank teller and the store clerk and going to the public library. No wonder we’re getting scammed. If somebody is going to get my money, I want to see a smile and exchange the time of day.”
Roughly a third of employees of the American Association of Retired Persons reportedly are seniors.
In response to questions of age discrimination raised in this column, the nation’s largest lobby issued a statement that said, “Almost 33 percent of AARP’s employees are of membership age (50 or older).”
By contrast, said the statement released by AARP regional communications representative Deborah Moore in Seattle, “About 22 percent of the nation’s workforce is 50 or older.”
Says Moore, “I hope this clears up any misapprehension regarding age diversity of AARP’s employees.”
The statement also says, “AARP is not run just by staff. Volunteer leaders, all 50 or older, set policy and hold positions of varying levels of responsibility at both the state and national level.
“AARP has always opposed discrimination of any kind, including age, race and gender. Staffing decisions based on merit not only reflect sound and responsible management practice, it is the law.”