Navigating the maze known as Medicare

On the day I wrote this column, my wife and I received word from our Medicare Advantage company that it was discontinuing this insurance program in 2017. Suddenly we are pushed into the Medicare maze with many others to look for other insurance. Does this sound familiar?

On the same day, the “AARP Bulletin” came in the mail. A short article there spoke of how three identified insurances companies were losing money through Obamacare. They cited “financial losses due to a flood of older, sicker enrollees and not enough young, healthy people to offset the costs.” So they won’t be selling those policies anymore.

Now, I get that insurance companies are in the business of making money. But I also get the strong impression that serving real people has gone way down on their priority lists. And that impression makes me very sad!

So do these companies work with federal officials to re-balance that insurance system to serve both the insurance company and the health needs of real people? It doesn’t appear so. Some insurance companies cut their losses, basically excluding the very people they said they serve.

The short article I read isn’t long enough to expand on the issues those companies, or Obamacare, are dealing with. That leaves us to do two basic things: 1) panic and assume the worst about our own insurance policies; or 2) engage in some research on our own to find alternatives.

My wife and I personally vote for # 2 option, thank you! Yes, the health insurance picture is scrambled for thousands, maybe millions, of people. But it does absolutely no good to wring our hands or point the blame-finger. Some things we can’t control as individuals. I get that.

But there are other things we can control — like being responsible to adjust to our own circumstances. I also believe we can have some influence, slight as it might seem in the short term.

We can advocate for significant, common sense, changes in how Medicare insurance is both structured and delivered.

If you are tempted to learn more about the issues of Medicare, one website to begin your research efforts is www.cms.gov., the Center for Medicare. This site will likely lead you to other resources that could help you learn more about the Medicare maze and how to influence it.

Another step you might take is to attend next Tuesday’s Geezer Forum. As we do each October, we will focus on the upcoming Medicare Enrollment period that begins on October 15. As we did last year, we invited Angie Mackin and Jessica Jans of SHIBA (Senior Health Insurance Benefits Advisors) to help us learn more about Medicare.

SHIBA works year-round on helping folks understand about Medicare. They don’t sell insurance. They inform people about some directions they might take to get the best kind of Medicare insurance for themselves.

Please consider joining us Tuesday, Oct. 11, at the Columbia Bank Community Room, 2:30-4 p.m.

Paul R. Graves, M.Div., is Lead Geezer-in-Training for Elder Advocates, a consulting ministry on aging issues. Contact Paul at 208-610-4971 or email him at elderadvocates@nctv.com.