Patients, Public Invited to Educational Programs on How to Make Sense of Health Insurance Issues

Thursday, September 25, 2003

The Mayo Clinic Cancer Education Center invites people who are dealing with cancer and other chronic illnesses to a series of free educational programs designed to provide a better understanding of health insurance coverage and issues.

"Health insurance directly affects the options a patient has for health-care treatment, but understanding the coverage a patient has is often very difficult," says Kristin Feldkamp, R.N. and patient education specialist with the Mayo Clinic Cancer Education Center. "Our educational programs aim to help patients, family members and the general public make sense of health insurance issues and lessen their struggles and frustration."

The educational programs will be taught by Mayo Clinic medical social workers who work with cancer patients and understand the insurance issues that patients, their family members and caregivers often face. The programs will be held from 11:15 a.m. to noon every Wednesday, beginning Oct. 8, in the Cancer Education Center, located in the lobby level of the Gonda Building at Mayo Clinic.

The schedule of programs:

* Oct. 8 — "Health Insurance: Do You Know the Language?" A basic understanding of insurance words and phrases can help in making decisions about health insurance coverage.

* Oct. 15 — "Health Insurance Policies, High-Risk Pools and Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)." Types of insurance and how to use COBRA will be among the topics discussed.

* Oct. 22 — "Medicare and Medicaid." This session will review the two federally-funded health-care programs, discuss the differences between them and explain the eligibility and benefits of both.

* Oct. 29 — "Prescriptions: Is There Any Help Out There?" State-funded programs, pharmaceutical company patient-assistance programs and discount cards will be discussed.

* Nov. 5 — "Long-Term Care Insurance." Knowing when and why to consider a long-term care insurance policy will be the focus of this session.

* Nov. 12 — "The Basics of Disability Insurance." Short- and long-term disability policies will be discussed, along with Social Security Disability Insurance.

People may select which programs they want to attend. There is no charge and no preregistration. For more information, call the Cancer Education Center at 507-266-9288.
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CONTACT:
Mary Lawson
507-284-5005 (days)
507-284-2511 (evenings)
e-mail: newsbureau@mayo.edu

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