As individuals retire or age into Medicare, their insurance situation can change dramatically. There are a multitude of options open to those with Medicare. The terms, prices and products offered are dramatically different each year.
The purpose of this column is to give those who are eligible for Medicare, or soon to be eligible for Medicare, some understanding of their insurance options and how it could impact their health and finances.
These questions and answers are meant as a guide to help you understand the complex questions you are now thinking about. Each individual's specific situation may create a different solution. You shouldn't necessarily do what your friends, family and neighbors do.
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Question: Last week's question was "What resources are online regarding benefits available in our area? I am trying to help some elderly family and wondered if there is a website that could help me with this task?"
Answer: This is a continuation of last week's article. The last article was regarding www.mybenefits.ny.gov. This week's article covers two other websites that might be useful to a caregiver or someone of any age. These are www.nextstepincare.org and www.healthcare.gov.
These websites are useful in any part of the country. So if you are caring for someone who is outside your local world, you can do some research regarding the area they live. If you are caring for someone in your own home they can be a very useful resource as well.
The first website, www.nextstepincare.org is focused around the caregiver, the resources they need and helpful tools to stay well themselves. This website is a wonderful tool for the caregiver. You can go through the list of resources on the website. You can also put in your particular situation - such as moving a person from the hospital to the home or home to an assisted living facility. This gives you specific resources and steps to help make this transition successful.
This website was created by the United Hospital Fund. It is designed to help the caregiver or family member cope with the idea and concepts they are trying to embrace. It is often difficult to help someone make life choices like where to move or when to move. When you add the stress of illness and time frames associated with this type of change, it is easy to get overwhelmed.
Most families and caregivers are first-time users of the healthcare system. They have not been in this situation before so they don't have past experience to draw upon. The terms and language used are new, as well as the rules and standards that apply to the different settings. To many families the different facilities appear to be identical with regard to the services provided, but if you have been in this situation you know there are many differences between them.
This website gives you good questions to ask, things to consider and think about and tools to use during this process. The website offers this information in multiple languages. The easy to use guides can be printed out and brought with you as you talk with people and facilities.
The second website is www.healthcare.gov. This website is designed to give the public information regarding health care facilities, insurance options available and so much more. This website is almost more than I could cover in one article. It has hundreds of links to other websites depending on the information you need or want.
It has links related to health insurance options and alternatives for almost every possible situation. There are ways to specify what you are looking for; there are state specific tools, age specific tools, and situation specific tools. When I am using this website I often seem to "get lost" in the multitude of options that are available. In your situation you would be looking for a specific information, so this will be clearer as you use the website.
This website also has significant information regarding the Affordable Care Act. It has a number of different ways to access information related to this topic. You again, can approach it from your specific situation, your state, or general information regarding how the Affordable Care Act hopes to improve Health Care in America.
The home page has some primary tabs; Find Insurance Options, Learn about Prevention, Compare Care Quality, Understand the New Law, and Information for You. Each tab obviously provides different information regarding health care topics.
The website also has useful information regarding local healthcare facilities and how they measure up to national standards and averages regarding care and other issues. You can choose which hospital you wish to research and which measures are important to you.
The website has a very useful video tour that is on the home page. This is a four-minute informational video about the website and how to access it. I found this tool very helpful. It illustrated even more information available than I realized. (I had used the website a number of times before actually doing the tour).
There are a number of features I find particularly useful. One is the tool used to find insurance options. This can be done according to state, age, employment and other variables. It even has a tool for small businesses that will be useful in trying to find insurance products available to you.
The www.healthcare.gov website is a wonderful source of information for ANYONE. Whether you own your business, are preparing for retirement, have just moved to the area, have just lost your job, or want to research other options, this website can help you. As the website itself says, it is working to "Put Healthcare into your own hands."
Both these websites are wonderful resources for those individuals who use the Internet to get their information. If you don't use the Internet or don't know how, approach a friend or family member who does and sit down next to each other in front of the computer and research these topics together. The local public library is also a wonderful source of internet access for you. They also usually provide lessons on how to use the computers and Internet they have there.
Good luck and happy researching!
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Janell Sluga is a geriatric care manager certified and works for Senior Life Matters, a program of Lutheran Senior Housing. Submit questions to Janell Sluga, at Senior Life Matters 737 Falconer St., Jamestown, NY 14701 or by e-mail at janells@lutheran-jamestown.org.
Please remember that not all questions can be answered in this format, but as many as can be, will be.