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Save with
Medicare
Grants fund effort
to help people lower their health care costs
Through a
three-year grant totaling $420,000, the Minnesota
Board on Aging (MBA) and the Minnesota Department of
Human Services (DHS) will be working to target
qualifying older Minnesotans and people with
disabilities to get enrolled in programs that can
help pay for Medicare co-payments, deductibles and
premium costs.
The effort comes on
the heels of a pilot project conducted in 2001 in
six Minnesota counties and encompassing three Area
Agencies on Aging. While nationwide efforts saw
about a 3 percent increase in enrollment in
participation, the Minnesota pilot project had a 6
percent increase in enrollment, double the national
average.
Those numbers were
rewarded with the $420,000 grant award to the state
by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the
Commonwealth Fund to take the effort statewide.
It’s estimated that there are 40,000 Minnesotans
age 65 or older eligible for assistance through the
program and about 20,000 people with disabilities
who are eligible.
The new program
will work to get information about these assistance
programs into the hands of consumers in various
ways. The Senior LinkAge Line® and eventually 2-1-1
phone lines will be a primary access point for
people. Area Agencies on Aging provide Benefits
Check Ups at local sites to inform people about the
Medicare Savings Programs, as well as other programs
or services they may be eligible for. One-on-one
assistance to apply for these programs will also be
provided. Applicants do not have to go to a county
office to fill out paperwork.
For Medicare
premium cost assistance, applicants will be screened
to see if they are eligible for the Qualified
Medicare Beneficiary Program, the Service Limited
Medicare Beneficiary Program or the Qualifying
Individual Program. Eligibility criteria for those
programs can be found in this month’s Quick Link
article on page 3.
Other partners
helping to promote awareness of these programs are
the Minnesota State Council on Disabilities, the
Council on Developmental Disabilities, AARP and the
Minnesota Senior Federation.
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