Medicare Answers Now Readily Available to the COPD Community

This blog post was written by Joe Baker, President, Medicare Rights Center.

Understanding everything about Medicare, from when you should enroll to what Medicare covers – and doesn’t, to what you will pay and how to lower your costs, just became a whole lot easier for people with COPD and their families, caregivers, and health professionals.

Thanks to a new partnership between the COPD Foundation and the Medicare Rights Center, the largest and most reliable independent source of Medicare information and assistance in the United States, a link to the new Medicare Interactive is now available on the COPD Foundation’s website.

Medicare Interactive is a free online resource packed with hundreds of answers to Medicare questions to help you navigate the complexities of Medicare coverage. The site’s new design and features ensure that its users can quickly find the Medicare answers they need through smart links to relevant Medicare Interactive pages and case examples, a roll-over glossary, and other helpful resources.

You can create a free Medicare Interactive profile to bookmark your favorite pages, manage Medicare Right’s newsletter subscriptions, access free exclusive links/downloads, and receive notices about key Medicare dates. As an initial thank you for registering, you will receive a welcome e-packet from the Medicare Rights Center, complete with the exclusive New to Medicare Guide.

Medicare Interactive explains, for example, the rules on how Medicare pays for oxygen equipment and supplies, repairs, and maintenance. You will also find information on the competitive bidding demonstration program for “durable medical equipment,” like oxygen, and how this program may – or may not – affect you. Medicare Interactive also offers help on how to keep costs down if you are not affected by the demonstration, or, need nebulizer equipment and supplies , which are excluded from the competitive bidding program.

Medicare Interactive provided over 2 million answers to Medicare questions last year alone. The Medicare Rights Center, which works to ensure access to affordable health care for older adults and people with disabilities, is excited to be teaming up with the COPD Foundation to bring Medicare Interactive direct to the COPD community.