Tell Medicare to Help Newly Eligible Beneficiaries Understand Their Enrollment Rights & Avoid Penalties

In December 2014, CHA and many other advocacy organizations sent a letter to the Dept of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Dept of Labor and to the Social Security Administration requesting them to inform people nearing 65 of their rights and obligations surrounding Medicare enrollment, including their options to enroll, when they can delay enrollment and consequences of not enrolling (such as life time late enrollment penalties). With 10,000 people becoming eligible for Medicare each day, it’s imperative that they are well informed as the maze of information and choices is complex. Making sure pre-eligibility education is clear and consistent can help many people avoid costly mistakes.

Our friends at Medicare Rights Center have put together this petition to urge the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Social Security to take action and create a comprehensive education/outreach to people nearing 65 and their Medicare eligibility. Please take a moment to sign and share. Thank you!

http://action.medicarerights.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=12243

Karen Joy Fletcher

Our blogger Karen Joy Fletcher is CHA’s Communications Director. With a Masters in Public Health from UC Berkeley, she is the online “public face” of the organization, provides technical expertise, writing and research on Medicare and other health care issues. She is responsible for digital content creation, management of CHA’s editorial calendar, and managing all aspects of CHA’s social media presence. She loves being a “communicator” and enjoys networking and collaborating with the passionate people and agencies in the health advocacy field. See her current articles.