As part of its Share the Love Campaign, Ladin Subaru is partnering with Senior Concerns to hold a holiday gift drive on Monday, December 9, 4:00-6:00 p.m. at Ladin Subaru, 3725 Auto Mall Drive in Thousand Oaks. The community is invited to drop off small gifts that will be delivered to homebound seniors during the [...]

QUESTION: I recently applied for my Medicare benefits and soon after received a form to complete asking for information about employer’s health plans that I might be entitled to. Why would Medicare need such information? ANSWER: Medicare needs to know about other health care coverage in order to establish your benefits file and to determine [...]

QUESTION: If I remember correctly it is about this time of year that Medicare has its Annual Open Enrollment. Can you provide the dates and any information that would be helpful? ANSWER: Medicare Annual Open Enrollment will start on Tuesday October 15th and run through Saturday December 7th. During this period you can change the [...]

Senior Concerns, as part of its commitment to provide support for seniors, will present a community seminar titled “Medicare: What’s New for 2020,” on Tuesday, October 22,, 2019, 4:00-5:30 p.m. at Senior Concerns, 401 Hodencamp Road, Thousand Oaks. This informative seminar is being led by Senior Concerns’ Senior Advocate Betty Berry. This seminar will help [...]

QUESTION: I am going to need in-home health care and wonder how to go about selecting an appropriate agency. Is there anything in particular I should focus on and does Medicare have any special requirements in order for the care to be covered? ANSWER: Medicare Part B covers medically necessary part-time or intermittent skilled nursing [...]

QUESTION: A family member has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and while not needed at this particular time I am beginning to think about hospice services. When looking into this type of care what should I consider when selecting a hospice provider? ANSWER: I commend you on preparing for future needs. It is something [...]

Question: Medicare denied payment for services I recently had and indicated I could appeal their decision. How do I start this process? ANSWER: Denial of payment for services can occur for many reasons. Before starting the appeal process it would be wise to talk with provider’s office to see if the problem is due to [...]

QUESTION: I have a long-term care (LTC) policy that I purchased about 10 years ago and have just received a notice that my premium is going to increase by a substantial amount. I am provided with several options for reducing the premium amount but not sure what is best and how it will reduce the [...]

QUESTION: It seems that calls from marketers are growing and the scammers are getting more cleaver and believable. Do you have any hints on what we can do to protect ourselves? ANSWER: As the marketers and other fraudsters become more believable we must look at ourselves – what are our responses and behaviors when responding [...]

QUESTION: I recently heard about two programs that are offered at the Goebel Center – “History Comes Alive” and “Music Comes Alive.” Can you provide details? ANSWER: Yes, I can. “First I would like to say these two wonderful events are very popular and an excellent way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The timing of [...]