Discovering The Mature Lifestyle
Edina home hospice care celebrates life. Page 4
LTC Care
October 15, 2015
October Issue
Minnetonka agency offers health insurance counseling BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER Darwin Klockers is a retired attorney who lives in Plymouth. Sue Swanson is a retired insurance company employee who lives in Apple Valley. What they have in common is that both have signed on as Medicare health insurance counseling volunteers with Senior Community Services in Minnetonka. Klockers has been helping with the Medicare counseling for 10 years; Swanson began offering her services a year ago. Medicare health insurance counseling has been offered at the agency for more than 20 years. It is just one of the programs offered at Senior Community Services, whose vision is to “mobilize the community to reimagine aging.” The agency offers educational workshops at several locations, plus confidential, individual assistance by appointment at more than 20 locations. The open enrollment period for insurance this year runs from Nov. 1 to Jan. 31, 2016. You can select coverage for the first time then, or make changes in your current coverage. Klockers and Swanson take part in information workshops for groups, and also help with the one-on-one counseling. Among the most important decisions newly retired people must make is what to do about health care once they are no longer covered by their employer’s plan. Even if they’ve been retired for some time and chose a health plan in the past, each year’s open enrollment period gives retired persons a chance to reconsider other, sometimes better, options. It is wise, during the open enrollment period, to check a plan to see if there will be changes; check prescription lists and coverage for those prescriptions; and then check on new plans and changes to other plans to be sure coverage is being provided at the most affordable cost. “When you’re dealing with someone who will be on Medicare for the first time, they’re anxious about what it’s all about,” Klockers said. “It seems to be complicated. If they’ve been on it for a while, they’re usually looking for
Pictured above following a Senior Community Services training session are, from left: Don Waletzho, Senior Community Services CFO; Darwin Klockers and Jerry Maher, volunteer health insurance counselors and trainers; and Deb Taylor, Senior Community Services CEO. (Submitted photo) a better alternative, and then it’s usually the prescription drugs that are most important.” People who are already enrolled in Medicare are asked to bring with them to the counseling sessions their Medicare card, supplementary insurance card, Part D Medicare prescription drug coverage card, and a list of their prescription drugs.
What is Medicare? Medicare is health insurance for people 65 or older,
people under 65 with certain disabilities, and people of any age with End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant). When you are first eligible for Medicare, you have a seven-month period to sign up. This seven-month period begins three months before your 65th birthday, includes the month you turn 65, and ends three months after you turn 65. AGENCY - TO PAGE 2