Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, November 12, 2016

THE GOOD LIFE

9

Mountain Views-News Saturday, November 12, 2016 

SENIOR HAPPENINGS

AUTOMATIC MEDICARE ADVANTAGE 
ENROLLMENT CAUSES CONFUSION


HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ….November Birthdays*

Flo Mankin, Alberta Curran, Carmela Frontino, Kathy Wood, Lena Zate, Joe 
Pergola, Janice Kacer, Valerie Howard, “Mike” Ruggles, Joan Ruggles, Lois Stueck, 
Jean Wood, Shirley Yergeau, Kathi Jefferson, Pat Krok, Irene Nakagawa, Anna Ross, 
Mary Steinberg and Sue Quinn. 

* To add your name to this distinguished list, please call the paper at 626.355.2737. 
YEAR of birth not required but you must be over 60.

...................................................................

ACTIVITIES: Unless listed differently, all activities are at the 
Hart Park House (Senior Center) 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre

 

 

 YWCA San Gabriel Valley - Intervale Senior Cafe 

Seniors 60 years of age and up can participate in the YWCA Intervale daily 
lunch program held at the Hart Park House Senior Center. Meals are served Monday through Friday 
at 12:00 pm and participants are encouraged to arrive by 11:45 am. Meals are a suggested donation of 
$3.00 for seniors 60 and over or $5.00 for non-senior guests. Daily reservations are necessary, space is 
limited. Please reserve your lunch by calling 626-355-0256.

Tech Talk: Will resume in the fall. 

Hawaiian and Polynesian Dance Class: Every Tuesday morning from 10:00 - 11:00am. Join instructor 
Barbara Dempsey as she instructs you in the art of hula. 

Bingo: Every Tuesday beginning at 1:00 pm. Cards are only $0.25 each! Everyone is welcome to join. 
May be cancelled if less than 5 people. 

Free Blood Pressure Testing: 2nd Tuesday of the month from 11:00am - 12:00 pm. No appt. necessary. 

Chair Yoga: Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:00 - 11:45am. A suggested donation of $5 at one of the 
classes is requested, but is not required. 

Case Management: Meets the second Thursday of the month. Case Management services are provided 
by the YWCA and provide assistance in a variety of areas. Appointments are required and can be 
scheduled by calling the HPH Office at 626-355-7394. 

Birthday Celebrations: Every second Thursday of the month at the Hart Park House. The free birthday 
cake is provided by the Sierra Madre Civic Club. 

 Game Day: Every Thursday starting at 12:00 pm. (Please note the time change.) A regular group of 
seniors play poker. Other games available for use. 

 Free Strength Training Class: Every Friday from 12:45 - 1:30 pm with Lisa Brandley. The class utilizes 
light weights for low impact resistance training. All materials for the class are provided. 

Senior Club: Every Saturday at the Hart Park House Senior Center. Brown bag lunch at 11:30am. 

LUNCH AND LEARN

Thurday, October 27th, 11:00am - 1:30pm

Medicare Annual Election Period is here. If you have any questions on your health plans, please 
come to the Medicare Resource Table at the Hart Park House on October 27th from 11:00 a.m. 
to 1:30 p.m. A licensed representative will be available to answer questions as well as gather 
information. No appointment necessary.

SENIOR EXCURSION - 

NOVEMBER EXCURSION

GRABER OLIVE HOUSE (ONTARIO)

Date: Wednesday, November 9th, 2016 
Time: 9:45am - 2:30pm 
Meeting Location: Hart Park House 
Cost: $10.00 (Does not include lunch)

Description: Founded in 1894, the historic Graber Olive House 
is located in a pleasant residential area north of Ontario’s 
Business District. Here in quiet and serene surroundings, 
visitors are welcomed and delighted to discover a bit of early California. Participants will take a guided 
tour of the facility and may browse leisurely in the gift shop which feature Graber Olives, fine goods, 
and gifts. Lunch will be on your own at Molly’s Souper. Please bring money for lunch and souvenirs if 
desired. Level of walking: Medium. Please call the Hart Park House 626-355-7394.


Dear Savvy Senior,

I’ll be 65 in a few months and I recently pre-enrolled in 
original Medicare. But last week, I received a member 
card in the mail for a Medicare Advantage plan that I did 
not enroll in. What’s going on? Medicare is so confusing 
with all the different choices, and now it seems like I’m 
getting automatically enrolled in a plan I didn’t even 
choose. Is this a scam?

New to Medicare

Dear New,

It’s not a scam, but it is a growing problem the Centers 
for Medicare and Medicaid Services needs to resolve. 
Here’s what you should know. 

 

Automatic Enrollment?

When Americans first become eligible for Medicare 
– typically at age 65 – they can choose to enroll either 
in original Medicare, or they can opt for a Medicare 
Advantage plan, which is offered by private insurance 
companies. But some people, like yourself, are being 
enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan without your 
knowledge.

 Here’s how it’s happening. 

 Before becoming eligible for Medicare, many people 
are covered by a commercial or a Medicaid health care 
plan run by a private health insurance company. These 
insurers often operate Medicare Advantage plans too. 

 Under a little-known rule authorized by the federal 
government, some insurers can shift their beneficiaries 
who are turning 65 to their own Medicare Advantage 
plan. It’s a process called “seamless conversion 
enrollment,” and all it requires is that the insurance 
company send a letter to the beneficiary explaining the 
new coverage, which takes effect unless the member 
opts out within 60 days.

 The idea is to preserve continuity for those who want 
to stay with the same company. But some seniors are 
unaware that they’ve been signed up, in part due to the 
flood of mail they get around their 65th birthday from 
insurers marketing their Medicare plans. This makes 
it easy to miss a notice of seamless conversion or fail to 
understand the letter. 

 It can also have serious financial consequences. 
Medicare Advantage plans tend to be HMOs and PPOs 
with limited provider networks. If you unknowingly 
get enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan and receive 
treatment from a doctor who’s not in the network your 
medical bills may go uncovered.

 Consumer advocate groups like the Medicare Rights 
Center is pushing for a change in the rules. They want 
it set up so beneficiaries must respond to the letter/
invitation before they’re enrolled, versus having to opt 
out of automatic enrollment. In the meantime, here 
are some things you can do to protect yourself from 
unrequested Medicare enrollment.

Self Protection

Every one approaching age 65 should carefully read 
all mail received from your current health insurance 
provider. If you come across anything suggesting that 
the insurance company intends to enroll you in a 
Medicare Advantage plan that you do not wish to have, 
contact the insurer and decline to be enrolled.

 Also, to be safe, about a month prior to Medicare 
eligibility, call your current insurer to confirm that 
you are not being automatically enrolled in a Medicare 
Advantage plan.

 If you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan 
against your wishes, call Medicare at 800-633-4227. 
People in this situation have been allowed to convert 
to traditional Medicare without having to wait until 
the next open-enrollment period, or enroll in a 
different Medicare Advantage plan that they choose. 
It even might be possible to be retroactively enrolled 
in Medicare so that out-of-network expenses already 
incurred are covered.

 If you need help with your Medicare enrollment, 
contact your State Health Insurance Assistance 
Program (SHIP), which provides free one-on-one 
Medicare counseling in person or over the phone. For 
contact information visit Shiptacenter.org, or call the 
eldercare locator at 800-677-1116.

 Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. 
Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. 
Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and 
author of “The Savvy Senior” book.


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AT THE END OF THE DAY

I’m writing this on 11/06, because if 
this week is as busy as my previous 
weeks have been, I know I won’t find 
time if I wait until later. So by the time 
you read this we will know who our 
next president is. That is, if the election 
goes as planned, with no national crises as called for by ISIS’s 
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In comparison to the threat of terror 
attacks, the best result we can hope for from the election is that 
half of us will be happy and the other half will be disappointed 
on Wednesday morning. 

 But I can’t see how anyone could really be happy, even if their 
candidate wins. To call this election stressful, depressing, and 
divisive is an understatement. Our country is fractured and 
we’ve degenerated into warring tribes along racial, religious, 
social, political, ideological, and countless other categorical 
lines. When we look at the insanity happening in our nation, 
there is truly no cause for hope, whether from the Republicans, 
Democrats, or anyone else for that matter. The rest of the 
world, too, is in a state of chaos, much of it worse than what we 
are experiencing. No one has the answers. We’ve exhausted 
all human efforts at bettering ourselves and society. Any other 
analysis is naive, deceptive, or just plain delusional.

 Even Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, came to this 
same conclusion. (I’m not saying I’m as wise as Solomon, I’m 
just quoting him.) In Ecclesiastes he writes that life on earth is 
essentially futile, and that for all man’s accomplishments there 
is nothing new under the sun. Even personal achievement, the 
acquisition of material goods, and the pursuit of wisdom are 
vanity and grasping for the wind. His problem, however, was 
that he was looking under the sun, rather than above it. And 
as long as we error in maintaining a humanistic perspective, 
we, too, will be bound to the same empty, meaningless end.

 It is true that, left to our own devices, we are selfish, and 
ultimately self destructive. If humanity were evolving into a 
higher state of enlightenment, why, after so many years, are we 
still going backwards? And if you don’t think the state of things 
is a clear indication that we are, indeed, going backwards, then 
you belong to the delusional group. The problem is not lack of 
education, jobs, self actualization, or broken childhoods. The 
problem is our own evil hearts. 

 Deep down, we know things are not as they should be. WE 
are not as we should be. We long to be restored to wholeness. 
Some of us try to fill this void in different ways. We try to 
tip the cosmic balances in our favor in hopes of redeeming 
ourselves. If we give to charity, do good works, and reduce 
our carbon footprint, surely these efforts will prove our merit. 
Because, after all, we are essentially good people, aren’t we?

 The Bible teaches differently. The Bible teaches that God 
created a perfect world, but that human sin marred His 
creation and separated us from Him. Powerless to save 
ourselves, God, in His mercy and grace, sacrificed His Son, 
as the only atonement that could restore us to fellowship with 
Him. And that is the truly amazing part of the Christian 
gospel. All world religions teach that people want to have a 
relationship with God. Only Christianity teaches that God 
wants to have a relationship with us! This never ceases to 
astound me. Lately I’ve been thinking more and more about 
what the Rapture and Second Coming of Christ will be like. 
The Scriptures teach that God will roll up the heavens like a 
scroll and remake the heavens and earth anew. He will also 
raise the dead in Christ incorruptible with miraculous bodies 
like the one Christ had after His resurrection. Every infirmity 
will be healed, every imperfection will be erased and replaced 
with unimaginable beauty and power. All that overwhelms 
my mind, but not as much as this one simple fact --the One 
who does all this actually loves ME! 

 Even I don’t like me most of the time. To think that the God 
who created the universe is interested in my life --not only is 
He interested, but He actually loves me --this is more than 
I can grasp. I know it intellectually, but am still learning to 
experience it day by day. Sometimes it’s the simplest things 
that serve to illustrate God’s care for me. I’ve recently moved 
to a new campus, and I’m still getting used to my office. Not 
one to ever excel at planning and organization, I was mildly 
panicking the other morning when I realized I had run out 
of paper clips. Clearly this isn’t a huge deal, but I had to put 
students’ progress reports in the teachers’ mailboxes, and 
without paper clips it would make the task more difficult. I 
was thinking that it would be a silly, foolish thing to mention 
to God my paper clip dilemma. After all, it was my own fault. 
I could’ve ordered paper clips from the office manager earlier 
in the year instead of waiting until the last minute. I deserved 
whatever consequences my lack of preparation caused me. 
These were the thoughts going through my head as I pulled 
out the drawer of my desk a bit farther than I usually do, only 
to discover two boxes of paper clips tucked away in the very 
back.

 Sure, they were always there, even before I thought to ask 
God about them. But it was as if He was telling me, “Don’t 
you think if I cared about you enough to send my Son to die 
so you could be with Me that I could also provide paper clips 
for you? If I wrote your name in My book before I made the 
world, couldn’t I surely provide for your needs today?” It was 
just a couple boxes of paper clips, but God used it to show me, 
again, the infinite care He has over the smallest details of my 
life. And if He can provide for my smallest needs, then He can 
certainly provide for the weightier ones, like the state of the 
world in which we find ourselves.

 Every day, I come to appreciate more and more the hope 
we have in Jesus. This world is not our home. Life on 
earth may be full of blessings, long life, and prosperity. Or 
it may be short, and fraught with strife and illness. Either 
way, life on earth is meaningless and futile unless you 
know the One who made your soul, the One who holds 
eternity in His hand. And if you know Him, all the rest 
doesn’t really matter very much, because you know that at 
the end of the day, He holds YOU.

 * If you choose to accept Jesus as your savior you can pray 
this prayer and He will come into your heart and give you 
peace with God --today and forever!

 “Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for 
Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from 
the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my 
heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and 
Savior. In Your Name. Amen.”


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com