In November's Issue:

HAP HAPpenings

• 2009 Annual Enrollment Period Toolkit
• Correction: NAIC Adopts New Model Medigap Standards

CMS News

• MIPPA: Even More Benefits for Beneficiaries
• CMS Clarifies MIPPA Provision for Plans
• Next Batch of CMS Mailings

Interesting Items

• November is American Diabetes Month
• NCOA to Establish Benefit Enrollment Centers
• New Report Highlights Help for the Most Vulnerable
• Kaiser Foundation’s Cool Part D Tracking Tool
• Increase Your Volunteer Management Expertise

HAP HAPpenings

2009 Annual Enrollment Period Toolkit
With November 15 rapidly approaching, we know you are busy preparing. HAP wants to help where we can, so we have renovated our 2009 Annual Enrollment Toolkit based on your feedback from last year.

This year’s toolkit includes newly updated fact sheets, charts, and guides on a variety of Part D topics and also highlights tools gathered from SHIPs across the network. New additions include:

• Ohio’s RX Action Plan
• Fairfax County Virginia’s 15 Tips to Help You Find a Medicare Part D Drug Plan
• Your SHIP - Send us tools you'd like to share, SHIPhelp@hapnetwork.org. 

Correction: NAIC Adopts New Model Medigap Standards
HAP has made a few modifications to last month’s article NAIC Adopts New Model Medigap Standards. Thank you to the Benefits Counselor at the North Central Texas Area Agency on Aging for taking the time to point out some inconsistencies in our analysis.

Have you spotted something that should be better clarified, or are there tweaks we can make to our tools that could make them more useful? We welcome your feedback, simply email us at SHIPhelp@hapnetwork.org.

What's HAPpening

Check out HAP's What's HAPpening Center for timely analyses of stakeholder meetings and news reports on issues that affect SHIPs and the beneficiaries you serve. This month:

USA Today article, Medicare drug plan spending drops $6B in 2008

CMS 
Mailings

1. Chooser Letters
620,000 Sent

2. Reassignment Letters
Version 1: 1.15 million Sent
Version 2: 133,000 Sent

Mailing schedule

NCOA to Establish Benefit Enrollment Centers
The National Council on Aging (NCOA) recently released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for state and local organizations to establish Benefit Enrollment Centers, a one-stop center that uses person-centered strategies to assist people with limited income to apply for certain benefits, including the Low-Income Subsidy and Medicare Savings Programs. NCOA will award up to 10 grants, up to $100,000 each, for a 12-month period. SHIPs, ADRCs, and AAAs are encouraged to apply. Funding is provided by the Administration on Aging.

Organizations interested in applying for the RFP must submit letters of intent by November 24 and applications by December 22. NCOA will hold two conference calls on November 17 and 20 to answer questions about the grant.

New Report Highlights Help for the Most Vulnerable
A new report by Families USA, Congress Delivers Help to People with Medicare: An Overview of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, highlights improvements to the Medicare Savings Programs and the Part D Low-Income Subsidy. The report also notes that “people of color do not always fare as well under the [Medicare] program” (p. 5), and highlights a “few of the ways that MIPPA will seek to address health and health care disparities within the Medicare program” (p. 5).

For quick references about MIPPA, please check out HAP’s two fact sheets: Key Changes for Low-Income Beneficiaries and Key Changes to Medicare Advantage Plans. To learn more, you can also listen online to HAP’s September conference call.

November is American Diabetes Month
As the end of 2008 quickly approaches, beneficiaries may consider taking advantage of the preventive benefits their health care plan has to offer.

American Diabetes Month is a perfect time to remind beneficiaries to schedule an appointment for a diabetes screening, one of the preventive benefits Medicare offers. HAP has compiled a detailed description of each Medicare preventive benefit, along with the cost of each benefit under Original Medicare. What better way to greet the holiday season than to help people prevent living with an untreated chronic disease!