What is Ask Medicare?
Ask Medicare is a one-stop source of information and support just for caregivers like you. If you're one of the nearly 66 million Americans caring for an aging, seriously ill, or disabled family member or friend, we're here to help make your life a little easier.
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Medicare.gov gets up to 2.8 million visitors a month who use the Web site to do everything from ordering new cards to learning how many problems inspectors found at local nursing homes.
But Ask Medicare, the section devoted to family caregivers, has been drawing far less interest. Though the information it provides is comprehensive and valuable, the section was “hard to navigate and hard to read,” said Brian Smart, account manager for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
So Medicare spent months revamping Ask Medicare, and the new and improved version made its debut last week. “My goal was to make it as easy and quick to use as possible,” said Aaron Murphy, who designed the new site. “This is already a stressful process, and people don’t have a lot of time on their hands.”
On the revamped Ask Medicare, you can sign up for an e-mail newsletter that alerts you to changes and new benefits. You can read other caregivers’ stories and share your own.
Basic information on eligibility and coverage, directions on filing claims, updates on common diseases and conditions, links to many other organizations and agencies, downloadable fact sheets and pamphlets — it’s a trove. Take a look.
Paula Span is the author of “When the Time Comes: Families With Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions.”
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