We had about 25 attendees to the Making Sense of Medicare program at the library with speaker Bob Lyons a volunteer from the AARP . I actually learned a lot, considering that I’m not even close to retiring. It was great having someone to answer questions about the confusing process. The most important things I learned were
- Deadline to register to recieve benefits for 2006 is May 15th
- Open enrollment is November every year
- You can switch programs every year during open enrollment to suit your needs
- You have 63 days from change of status, eg moving to a new area, becoming eligible because of a birthday, to enroll or change plans regardless of the time of year
- Veterans have good plans available to them
- If paying out of pocket already for HMO drug coverage, it might be better to stay with it
The list goes on but there was plenty of useful information. As the deadline approaches we plan on having Bob back, probably on a Saturday in March. Thanks again to Emily for connecting us with Bob.
In other news, I met with my friend Edie from the Alzheimer’s Association and got a run down of the programs that they do. It looks like we’ll be featuring two of their programs, Maximzing your Memory, and Maintain your Brain. Both seem like they would totally complement the library. These are nationwide programs so libraries everywhere should be booking them.