Estate Planning News

The Administration on Aging Awards $9.4 Million for Senior Medicare Patrol Projects

 Assistant Secretary for Aging Josefina G. Carbonell today awarded $9.4 million to fund fifty-seven Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) projects. These projects train retired professional volunteers to help their peers become better health care consumers.

Volunteers work to educate older Americans about the importance of reviewing their Medicare notices to identify billing errors as well as potentially fraudulent activity. Program volunteers also encourage seniors to make inquiries to the SMP project when such issues are identified, so that the project may ensure appropriate resolution or referral.

“Senior Medicare Patrol projects provide products and services to our seniors that promote understanding of Medicare and Medicaid program benefits,” said Assistant Secretary Carbonell. “Through this program beneficiaries increased their knowledge of the new prescription drug and other benefits that empowers them to make sound health care decisions.”

The SMP program plays a unique role in providing direct and widespread education to reduce erroneous and wasteful Medicare and Medicaid spending. The project plays an important role in helping elderly people protect both their own and Federal health care resources, which in turn help them remain independent in the community.

AoA provides these grants to states, territories, other jurisdictions and community-based non-profit organizations. Each project is designed to focus on providing program services to seniors who are homebound, rural, non–English speaking or otherwise underserved.

According to the most recent SMP Program performance report issued May 2, 2006, by the HHS Office of Inspector General, over 10,000 new volunteers were trained during 2005, who in turn educated over 483,000 beneficiaries through either group or one-on-one counseling sessions. As a result of this training, the SMP Projects resolved or referred almost 28,000 complaints regarding Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care issues. Since 1997, over $104 million in savings, including Medicare and Medicaid funds recovered, beneficiary and other savings have been attributed to the program as a result of documented complaints.  Read more at aoa.gov

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	Did You Know?
	A "Living Trust" can be used to hold legal title to and provide a mechanism to manage your property You can select the person or persons you want -- often even yourself -- as the Trustee(s) to carry out the instructions you want in the Trust and name one or more Successor Trustees to take over if you cannot. Unlike a Will, a Trust usually becomes effective immediately, continues in force during your lifetime even in the event of your incapacity, and continues after your death. Most Trusts are "revocable" which allows the person who creates the Trust to make future changes, modifications and even to terminate it.