Seniors can find non-biased Medicare counseling and information on how to avoid Medicare scams. The State Health Insurance Program, or SHIP, is a nationwide program funded by the federal government to support Medicare benefit evaluation for seniors on an individual basis.
Medicare.gov has made plan evaluation much more accessible, however, if you are still looking for consultation on a plan or wondering if the text you got is a scam, contact your local SHIP office. During open enrollment, tune into this SHIP episode for more information.
In this episode, Rhonda Wray, managing editor of Beacon Senior News, also visits with host Melissa Marts, highlighting some of the coverage in their October issue – including stories about the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival, and Colorado’s Haunted Hot Spots.
Aging with Altitude is recorded in the Pikes Peak region with a focus on topics of aging interest across the country. We talk about both the everyday and novel needs and approaches to age with altitude – whether you’re in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida or Leadville, Colorado. The Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging is the producer.
Transcript
MELISSA MARTS:
Today we talk about open enrollment and all things Medicare.
VOICEOVER:
This is Peak Community, Studio 809 Podcasts.
MARTS:
Welcome to Aging with Altitude, a podcast providing information, advice, and resources for seniors, families, and caregivers to help you live your best life, courtesy of the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging. We’re coming to you from the Studio 809 Community Podcast Studio at the Next Us, a professional, cooperative environment for small businesses in downtown Colorado Springs.
I’m your host, Melissa Marts, with the Pikes Peak Area Council of Government’s Area Agency on Aging. And I am taking a moment to thank our sponsor, Beacon Senior News.
I’m with Rhonda Wray today, the managing editor, and I want to hear a little from her on what we’re looking forward to in the October edition on the shelves.
RHONDA WRAY:
Well, we’ve got our roller skating article about seniors who are fearless and get out there and just risk it all and have fun and listen to the oldies and at the bargain price of $5 per session at Skate City on Academy. So that’s fun.
We’ve also got, if any of you are breast cancer sufferers out there, or survivors I should say, I like that better. If you’re a breast cancer survivor, there’s a store in Pueblo where you can shop new merchandise for free. So you might want to be aware of that. The Becky Baker Foundation has a store at the Pueblo Mall. So yeah, I urge you to look into that.
And we’ve also got a little bit about the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival.
MARTS:
Yeah, yeah. So I fortunately, just got to go see one of the women’s Rocky Mountain Film Festival features the other night. And it was called For Mothers. And it was actually a story about older women and their, their sons, and their sons were all gay. And so it’s also a story about gay men and their mothers. It was absolutely amazing. And it was funny.
There were some really touching crying moments, but it was also really funny. So yes, that Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival is something to check out. I’m glad you guys covered some of them. And reminding people that it’s coming up. Great.
WRAY:
Did you get a pass for the whole time or just like a, you know, single events here and there?
MARTS:
So right now, the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival, leading up to the actual festival itself, they have been hosting some free showings in the community. And so I got one of the free tickets to go to the free showing. So I was glad to be able to take advantage of that. And yes, looking forward to the whole entire, you know, event coming up, I think, October 17. Maybe I forget the actual date.
But yeah, so I was glad to just kind of jump in and get to see that one. And also because it was featuring, you know, older actresses and these actresses were outstanding.
They did such a good job. Yeah. And again, you know, the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival does such a nice job showcasing, you know, kind of underrepresented kind of ideas that don’t always make it to the mainstream, but yet we all kind of tend to care about it. So yeah, really think that’s a great feature in our community. And we were reminded that it is the longest running women’s film festival in the country. So I was glad to be reminded of that.
I haven’t thought about that in a while. But kudos to our community and the people to make that happen. So.
WRAY:
I love that, yeah. And yay for the older actresses.
MARTS:
Yeah, yeah. They did a great job. And it was it is so worth checking it out, whether you do it through the film festival, or I think that it’s possible for people to download it off of, kind of, YouTube or Netflix, again, called For Mothers. It was so good. Such a good film.
WRAY:
Wow. Yeah. That’s great.
MARTS:
What else are you guys talking about in the October edition?
WRAY:
There’s the Pikes Peak Camera Club. So if any of you are out there and you either love to take photos, or even just want to get better at it, that is the place to be. They have a special social time for people who are just starting out. So don’t feel like, I’m kind of interested, but I’m not great. You know, it would be a really good place to get better. So I think they’re a welcoming group and they do some fantastic work.
MARTS:
Good. You know, that makes me think that October is Arts Month all across the country and in Colorado Springs here. And as we talk about the Camera Club, we talk about the film festival. It’s interesting.
You know, it’s just a great time right now in October to check out something new, some new type of art and, you know, get engaged, whether it’s learning how to take photos better or just going to the photo club or definitely checking out the films. And the other thing that you when you bring that up, it makes me think about social engagement. And one of the things that we had going on yesterday at the Area Agency on Aging, we had a talk on staying engaged during retirement and kind of after retirement.
And that one in four seniors, people over 60 are actually socially isolated. And so by you guys covering these fun opportunities, hopefully that one in four can, that one person can hopefully get connected and not feel so socially isolated and alone anymore, whether they’re roller skating.
WRAY:
Taking pictures.
Yeah. That’s great.
Making new friends at the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, that would make me very happy.
MARTS:
I think it’s a good resource for people to tune into and read and know that there’s a lot of things out there. All they have to do is turn a page and, you know, find somebody to connect with.
WRAY:
That’s right.
MARTS:
Thank you for having that resource.
WRAY:
Absolutely.
MARTS:
Can you tell our listeners who are in the Pikes Peak region, at least where they can kind of find Beacon Senior News?
WRAY:
Yeah, well, we are at Safeways. We’re at Goodwills. Believe it or not, that is a big distribution site, are the Goodwills and the thrift stores. We are at some banks and restaurants, YMCAs, all the library branches. Yeah, we are we’re out and about in the in this city.
MARTS:
Good, glad to hear that. And of course, they’re at our office, the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging at 14 South Chestnut, Colorado Springs. Thank you for getting those out. And any other final comments for October?
WRAY:
Oh, Colorado’s haunted hotspots. I don’t know if you think there’s anything to that or not. I personally don’t. But it’s maybe just kind of fun if you want to stay in a spooky hotel. So you can check that out, too.
MARTS:
What a great idea. Yeah. I’m looking forward to that, too.
Thank you. Thank you, Rhonda. And we’ll talk to you next month. Take care.
WRAY:
Sounds good. And I’m happy to have in the studio with me today, one of my coworkers, Katie Ostini.
She recently started with us running our state health insurance program. And she has a lot to share today as we talk about open enrollment and all things Medicare. So Katie is the state health insurance program coordinator for the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments Area Agency on Aging.
She oversees SHIP, as well as a program, Senior Medicare Patrol, and Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers, which is called MIPA. Prior to starting her role with the council of governments, she worked for El Paso County Department of Human Services as a Medicaid supervisor for three years. Prior to that, she was at the Kansas Department for Children and Families as a human services specialist for two and a half years.
SHIP, state health insurance program, is a national program that offers one-on-one assistance, counseling, and education to Medicare beneficiaries, their families, and caregivers, to help them make informed health benefit decisions. The Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging serves nine counties and offers presentations, trainings, community outreach. Katie does all of this.
She also helps and provides assistance filling out applications, filing appeals, and making referrals to community organizations. So, hi Katie, thanks for joining me today. Tell me a little bit more about yourself and your role.
KATIE OSTINI:
Thank you for having me. I started my role at the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging in mid-July. I had to spend about 60 hours doing state health insurance program training. That was all online. So, once I got through that, then I became officially certified to provide counseling to Medicare beneficiaries who are looking at changing what their current benefit program is with Medicare, as well as people who are just getting started signing up for Medicare. So, that’s kind of what my duties are at this point right now.
I also attend senior expos and do other outreach presentations and I will be doing a presentation on kind of Medicare 101 and just the basics here shortly.
MARTS:
I’m glad you brought up the Medicare 101s. We at the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging are happy when Katie does those because we actually record them and we have them available on our YouTube channel.
So, people are able to kind of tune in and watch a Medicare 101 at any time, but we love it when people come in person or tune in to those in person as well. So, thanks for bringing that up, Katie.
But also, tell us a little bit about the Medicare Savings Program, MSP. That is something that I have found really helpful for a lot of older adults. And so, can you explain kind of a little bit more what that is? And I think you might even have maybe a story or two about Medicare Savings Programs.
OSTINI:
Yes, correct. So, when I worked at DHS, I was a grant-funded Medicaid supervisor. So, the funds were from COVID-related policies. So, as soon as that ended, my position ended.
And so, I didn’t just do Medicaid. I also helped people who were eligible for Medicare become eligible for MSP programs. So, there are four tiers underneath Medicare Savings Programs. And each tier, you have to income and resource qualify, but it assists older Americans who have Medicare get their Part B premium paid for, which that changes every year. This year, it’s $185. And so, that can be a huge expense for a lot of individuals, especially people on a fixed income.
So, part of my role at DHS was finding individuals who were eligible for that program, as well as assisting them with filling out the applications, turning in the verifications of income and resources, and things of that nature. And so, that’s also going to be something that we do at the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging, is assist people with finding out if they’re qualified to start with, and then if they are, getting that application filled out and sent in, as well as filling out if they need any resources to be able to access those and get those turned in. So, that’s something I did at DHS, and I’ll be doing that, as well, here at the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging.
And so, a story I do have is, I was covering for one of my coworkers on the Medicaid customer service phone line one day, and I received a call from an individual who was actually looking for some information on food assistance program, which is not something that I did eligibility for, but DHS does. And unfortunately, this individual was over the income limit for that program. And so, she was kind of just looking for if we had any other resources or referrals to any kind of other assistance programs.
I looked at her case, she was over 65, so she had Medicare. And so, I explained the Medicare Savings Program and each tier of that program, and kind of how to income qualify and resource qualify. And she had never heard of that program before, that there was any kind of assistance paying for her Part B premium.
So, we went over that program, and she was tentatively eligible based on the information she was telling me. So, I sent her an application, and I assisted her with making sure she got all that filled out correctly, turned in all the verifications. And then, she called me the next day as well, and I processed the application for her, and was able to get that Part B premium paid for.
And she started to cry. She was so happy. And so, $185 may not seem like a lot to some people, but to a lot of individuals who are just getting social security disability or retirement, it’s a lot of money.
And so, it really helped her a lot, and helped alleviate that stress or need to get additional food assistance so that she could eat every month. And so, that was really gratifying. It’s always nice when people are happy when they talk to you, and you’re able to help someone with a resource, or get covered for a program they didn’t know existed.
MARTS:
No kidding. No kidding. I understand how people will call the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging, because they think, I’m aging, so I’m going to call, and just kind of ask, boy, I need help, and have no idea what they even need help with, but they’ll just throw it out there, and hopefully, we have some good ideas for them.
When that woman called the Department of Human Services, she just really was calling at first, thinking maybe she would qualify for food assistance? Or do you have any idea how she might have even thought to call DHS to ask for help?
OSTINI:
So, originally, at least at our DHS location, there was just one customer service phone line for all programs. But when some things changed with Medicaid, and income limits changed, we saw a huge uptick in phone calls. So, part of my role was to create a Medicaid-only customer service line.
So, that was a brand new phone number. We had to staff that phone line with our staff, as well as myself. I would cover for certain situations, lunch breaks, and things like that.
And so, I think she saw that phone number advertised, and thought, maybe I can call, and they can refer me to another county organization, or another organization within the state that might provide some kind of assistance in any capacity that would help her save money a little bit each month. Because I think there was some food insecurity issues happening, and she was just reaching out to try to find anything that’s available that might help. And so, originally, my plan was to refer her to one of the food pantry organizations, or Catholic Charities, things of that nature.
But before I did that, I wanted to look at what programs she currently had, and what she might be eligible for that are within DHS. And so, that’s kind of how, we just kind of had a conversation. And she was able to open up, and kind of tell me what her situation was, and what was going on.
MARTS:
I’m so glad that, you know, good timing on everybody’s part there. And again, for folks who are over 60, they can call our office, the Area Agency on Aging, directly. And if you’re listening to this podcast anywhere else in the country, you can call other area agencies on aging, and get information about this Medicare Savings Program, and also the SHIP programs, the State Health Insurance Programs, all over the country. So, it’s not just something special in Colorado.
The next thing that I’m kind of curious about, so, you know, Medicare Savings Programs are helpful for people who might have lower incomes, and lower assets to their name, so they can access some additional resources and help there. But, you know, Medicare is just Medicare.
And so, we, you know, people who are aware of Medicare know that there’s an open enrollment time. And so, if you can maybe talk a little bit about what this means for people with Medicare, and this idea of open enrollment. Because again, sometimes people will come into our office, and they actually might qualify for the Medicare Savings Program when they come in for open enrollment.
But then we have lots of people who come and visit us during open enrollment, who are just straight Medicare folks. So, maybe talk a little bit about, so, what is open enrollment? And, you know, tell us a little bit more about it all.
OSTINI:
So, open enrollment is every year from October 15th to December 7th. So, that’s a fixed time, every year, same, the same dates, always.
And it’s a crucial time, so, for beneficiaries to either review their current plan selections, to see if that is still going to serve their needs for the following year. As well as people who are coming in and just getting ready to sign up for Medicare, they just became eligible, they’re about to turn 65, or they just have turned 65.
And so, they can switch plans, they can join a plan. And that’s not just Medicare, original Medicare, which is Parts A and B. That’s also Advantage plans, as well as Medigap plans, and standalone Part D plans. Part D plans are prescription plans.
So, original Medicare doesn’t have prescription coverage. So, some people who might be taking multiple medications, that might be something they want to look into. Some people take no medications, and they say, oh, I’ll be alright for now. And so, they don’t want a separate plan.
So, there’s a lot of things that people can do during open enrollment, but it’s primarily just reviewing their current benefit selections, and seeing if things are going to change for the next year. So, new plans come out, their prices, their premiums, things like that, what medications are covered. That’s a huge thing, is making sure that for the following year, the current medications that you take are going to be covered by the plan that you’re selecting.
So, we assist beneficiaries with that. We provide completely unbiased counseling on what plans are available. We’re not with any broker. We’re not getting a commission based on what plan someone chooses. We just want to provide beneficiaries with as much information as possible, so they can make the most informed decision for themselves.
MARTS:
Great. And I know I’ve talked to people who really appreciate that. Some folks have really strong relationships with brokers that they’ve been working with for a couple of years, but then they’ve come in and had an opportunity to talk with a SHIP counselor in our office, and they’ve really been able to kind of realize that there’s some other options outside of what their broker has presented to them over the years.
And so, it is a nice opportunity, that I’ve heard from people, to come and be able to kind of have some other options presented to them. So, I’m really impressed with your short period of time with our agency that you’ve been with us already, and yet you just know this world so well. So, I’m really glad to hear that, Katie, and thank you.
And, you know, so we have this state health insurance program in our office. You know, open enrollment is there, Medicare savings. But also talk a little bit about just SHIP.
You know, what is this thing that people can get on the boat with SHIP or, you know, I don’t know, you know, the state health insurance program. What is that all about? And what are some of the pieces that we haven’t talked about so far?
OSTINI:
So, there’s a lot of moving parts to SHIP. Another thing that we do is provide presentations for El Paso, Park, and Teller counties, as well as on the, we also provide over the phone counseling and outreach to six other counties. That’s Chaffee, Custer, Fremont, Huerfano County.
MARTS:
And it’s lovely, Katie, that you are learning all these other counties outside of our county. And this is true for other states across the country that have SHIP programs. They actually also are probably serving multiple counties just like us. So, yeah.
OSTINI:
And then Lake and Las Animas County. So there’s six counties that will provide the same counseling benefits and educational resources to individuals over the phone. So that’s another part of the SHIP program.
Another thing that we also do is with the Pikes Peak Library District, we have a Medicare 101 series. It’s four separate sessions. They’re an hour each.
We usually do them either from five to six at night or six to seven to allow individuals who are still working to be able to attend those. And each session goes over different parts of Medicare. So, the very first session is just the basics. What is Medicare? Who’s eligible to sign up for Medicare? And then parts A and B coverage. So part A is hospital insurance and part B is medical insurance. So that’s, you know, going to your doctor, the copay when you see a chiropractor or a specialist, things of that nature.
So that’s original Medicare, is really just parts A and B. And so there is part D standalone plans that I mentioned earlier that are optional as well.
And then when we go into the other sessions, it gets a little deeper. Then we go into kind of reviewing Medigap and then the Medicare Advantage Savings Plans. We go into those as well and kind of how to qualify for those and what’s involved in those plans.
There’s four sessions and they’re an hour each and it kind of dives into deeper into Medicare. Those are in person, but they’re also able to be viewed from a home virtually at the moment or we record them and you can view them later kind of at your leisure.
And so they’re really intended to kind of go into the basics. There’s a lot that we can go into with Medicare or if you have other health insurance, if you have certain disabilities like ALS or end stage renal disease, that’s kind of a whole separate category of eligibility and things like that. So there’s a lot of moving parts in Medicare and there’s a lot of things that change every year.
And so it’s really important to stay up to date kind of on the trainings because those definitely change constantly throughout the year.
MARTS:
Yeah. Thank you for reminding me that a good reason to talk to a SHIP counselor is to really understand all these different nuances of different types of diagnoses and health issues that people are facing.
I have people say to me, well, what’s this big deal? Why should we use government funding to help offset education around health insurance? Aren’t brokers enough? Isn’t that good enough? And I think it’s interesting because so many people go through their working career and they never give much thought to insurance unless they are somebody who’s self-employed and suddenly they had to kind of explore, how do I get health insurance and what does this look like?
But if you’ve spent your whole working career with a company, oftentimes you’re just presented with a health insurance plan. And some people at companies get a little savvy and kind of wonder, do I want to do something more or less? But a lot of people just kind of accept what their company gives them and says, here’s your health insurance program for the year. And for people who are really lucky, companies actually pay for their health insurance.
Some people work for companies and they have to pitch in a little bit out of their paycheck every month, but some people are fortunate enough to never even have to pay for their health insurance. And so then they get close to this age 65 and suddenly to have to start paying for a premium, $185 a month or possibly even a little bit more, let alone understanding all the moving parts of health insurance that can matter. It can be a real daunting process.
So I do think it was very wise of our government to set aside money and say, we want to have a program that’s available for people to just tune in and get that unbiased information and learn about all the different parts and pieces and be able to just ask all of this without just jumping right in and being told, oh, well, maybe this particular health insurance program will be the best one for you.
People with the SHIP program have an opportunity to just really better understand all the moving parts, as you’ve said, around insurance. So again, the fact that there is a government supported program out there that can complement what brokers do in a very different and beneficial way, I think is really important.
So would you like to talk about some of the other things that you do with the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging? Dig into some other pieces that you kind of tap into.
OSTINI:
So another piece is I also attend senior expos and fairs so that we can advertise about our program. We can talk about the SHIP program, but also kind of all the other pieces, the family caregiver support side of our agency, as well as case management, that’s another kind of piece of our agency.
And so myself and two other trained counselors in the office who are fully trained in SHIP and can provide that counseling to beneficiaries. So we make appointments. I set every appointment for at a minimum of an hour to allow enough time for people not to feel rushed through that process. Because another piece of what we do is if an individual has never signed up on Medicare.gov for an account, we can help people get signed up. A lot of people say they don’t have an email address they have access to.
So that could be part of a problem that they might need a little bit of help kind of getting that ball rolling. And Medicare.gov is really important because it has something called Plan Finder. So it’s a really beneficial free resource where you can add in every medication that you’re currently taking. And then it’ll roll through all the plans that are available. And it’ll tell you which ones will meet that need. Because I think prescriptions are a huge thing for a lot of people.
Some people are on very expensive medications that, unfortunately, sometimes when you switch insurance, your new insurance is going to want to try to convince you to go a more cost effective route, which isn’t always possible based on whatever medical condition you’re facing. And so that Plan Finder is a huge thing. And I advise every beneficiary who comes in who’s just getting started with Medicare, or is looking to change their plan, to use that resource.
It’s up to date with all the most recent changes that come every year with Medicare. And so using that can be a little bit confusing, especially for individuals who maybe aren’t super tech savvy. So that’s something that we can help people do is, you know, get an account going and kind of get that Plan Finder looked at so that they can see what plans are available. Because not all of them will be an option if you’re on a bunch of different medications or have different conditions. And so that’s a huge thing. And we actually have a presentation that’s all about just using Plan Finder. So that’s another topic that we do presentations on as well.
MARTS:
Good. Yeah, I’m glad you brought that up. I forget about a couple of years ago when the SHIP office found out that people were going to have to have Medicare accounts and they were going to have to go in and do that on the computer. It was a little bit of a mind blowing time, because we have so many older adults who just don’t necessarily tune into having access to a computer and doing things online. That is continuing to change every year.
There’s new groups of people who come up who are very savvy on technology. But, you know, we have, you know, older adults that, you know, don’t even own a computer. So getting people signed up was really, really interesting on the medicare.gov site. So glad we are doing that and that you brought that up.
One of the things, of course, I mentioned a little bit that we are a government funded program. Oh, my gosh. You mentioned all these different counties that we work in. And again, this is true for SHIP programs across the country, but we need volunteers, right? So talk a little bit about the need for volunteers.
OSTINI:
So just like with most other organizations, we’re always looking for volunteers. Right now, we have one trained individual that is also able to, you know, answer phone calls and answer questions and things like that. We’re flexible with how, you know, how many hours a week you’re able to do that. If you’re able to do it in the office, that’s great.
But some people need to do it from home for whatever reason. And that’s something we also can accommodate. We have someone who’s in charge of volunteers. Her name is Dali. But she also works directly with whichever department that individual is going to go to. So I have someone who just came and decided to volunteer with SHIP. And so we’re getting the ball rolling because she also has to take that same 60 hour state training, which can seem a little overwhelming to some people. And so we have to kind of get that ball rolling with her. She’s probably going to do that part from home. And then she’ll be able to come into the office and kind of do the other piece where she’s helping beneficiaries.
So we’re always out there looking for anybody who wants to volunteer. Give us a call. We can find a place for you.
MARTS:
Yeah, yeah. And I think, you know, volunteering for a SHIP program is really interesting because number one, you become in a lot of ways an expert on Medicare. And what better way to kind of enrich your own life? Now, of course, you got to want to live and breathe Medicare, I guess, a little bit. But I think there are people out there who are happy to do that. And then you also, you know, mentioned that they’re there to work directly with people and help them.
So I think that’s a really great volunteer opportunity for people to keep in mind and to know that that’s available all over the country, not just in our region.
So we’re coming close to the end. Anything else you want to kind of just mention a little bit here as we come to a close?
OSTINI:
So earlier, you mentioned the other two programs that I’m in charge of, one of them being the Senior Medicare Patrol Program, also called SMP. So that’s another funded program that is separate from SHIP. So the funds are separate, the contract is a separate entity. And so that’s really about making sure we report any kind of Medicare abuse, errors or fraud.
So that could be from getting a phone call from somebody that claims they’re from Social Security or some other agency, and they ask for your Medicare number. Never give out your Medicare number to anybody who calls you on the phone, no matter who they say they are, because we will never ask for that information. And anybody else who’s calling, they should already have access to that information if they are indeed who they say they are.
So that’s one piece of it. But another piece of it is really looking at your explanation of benefits that you get in the mail. Even if it’s not something that you paid for, you’ll always get an explanation of benefits from Medicare that outlines everything that your doctor submitted a claim for.
So we really encourage people, I know, they see the this is not a bill and they put it aside not to worry about it, but really take a look at that, because sometimes things happen unintentionally, or intentionally, where providers will be charging Medicare for something that never happened. So we really encourage people to look at that. If there’s a discrepancy in there somewhere and you want to give a call to the physician’s office and kind of talk to billing, that’s something that they can take a look at and review it. Or you can give us a call and we can look into that for you.
So that’s a separate program, but it’s really just looking at any kind of fraud or abuse that could be happening, or scams. There’s also a brand new app that was just created by the SHIP program in Iowa. And so that’s called called SMP app. And so that, you can look at, and it will tell you the most recent nationwide scams and schemes, things like that. So you can kind of be on alert. They change all the time. It might be a phone call, it might be a text message, and someone’s trying to access that information. So you can kind of keep up to date to know what to look for.
There’s also a healthcare tracker that’s in that app. And so it provides an option for a place to store all your information, date you went to the doctor, what procedure you had done, what you were seen for, things like that. It’s kind of a way to track for if you get that explanation of benefits in the mail and it doesn’t match. It’s kind of just a way to keep track of everything that’s going on, to be able to report anything if something comes up.
And never be afraid that someone’s going to get in trouble, or maybe I’m incorrect. It’s not on the beneficiaries to research that and look into it. It’s just that we really want them to report it, and then we can make sure the correct agency really looks into it.
MARTS:
Great, thank you. There’s a lot of really good resources here today that people can take charge of their own future and their own healthcare, which is great. Also, people can just pick up the phone and call our office and ask for help. So either way, however folks want to, kind of, look at taking charge of their health care, there’s some opportunities there that hopefully people are learning some new things today.
And we are grateful that Katie is with us in our office and here kicking off yet another season of open enrollment in October, running through the middle of December. And just a reminder that we do have the Medicare 101s available on our YouTube channel. And if people want to have access to those, they can contact our office at 719-471-2096, and we can help you navigate to where those are.
But we love for people to kind of zoom in live when Katie is doing a live presentation, or if you’re in the region, come in person and join us.
And also a reminder that if you love all things healthcare and want to be a volunteer, we are looking for volunteers. And so with that, I’m going to do a final call out and thank you to Beacon Senior News for sponsoring our Aging with Altitude podcast. And thank you, Katie, for being here today.
OSTINI:
Thank you for having me.
MARTS:
That’s the show. Thanks to all of you for being with us today. Aging with Altitude is created by the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments, Area Agency on Aging. Visit us at ppacg.org and click on Aging Services for more information about the programs of the Area Agency on Aging.