Monroeville Public Library to hold event to educate on Medicare

A question-and-answer session regarding a basic understanding of Medicare will be held March 4 at the Monroeville Public Library.

The hybrid event – being held in-person and on Zoom – will feature Kea Hardaway from Three Rivers Youth from 1-2:30 p.m. Hardaway has a background in health insurance, Medicare and Medicare Extra Help, a program that provides coverage of prescription drug costs for those with limited income.

Alice Rathjen, library head of public relations, said the event came about partially because of her own concerns.

“My friends, family members and even myself – many of us are getting to the point where this is the upcoming time for enrollment for us,” Rathjen said. “We’ve all done a little bit of research on it and have found that we have a lot of questions, but sometimes even the answers we got were very confusing. There are so many different plans out there. When you’re talking to different people, that information may not be quite as correct because they may have heard it through the grapevine.

“Things change constantly from year to year. I really felt that everybody needed a source that is basic, unbiased and that we can do it in a way that this program would be able to teach people in both the virtual way and in-person. It would make it easy for people to be reached.”

Because of her own questions concerning Medicare, Rathjen said she approached library staff that regularly put together programs. After they agreed that the topic was worthwhile, it was handed off to Billie Richardson, a social work intern.

Richardson said it was originally difficult to find a speaker, but the library was determined to continue the search because of the topic’s importance, particularly to elder visitors.

“There’s just a lot of misinformation out there, there’s a lot of unclear information,” Richardson said. “So, we wanted to find someone who is unbiased. Her role is to really go out into the community and help people with Medicare and health insurance. We’re looking forward to it.

“We think it could benefit a lot of people because everyone gets older. Everyone will eventually have to apply for Medicare.”

According to medicareresources.org, 64 million Americans are covered by Medicare. Funding for the program accounted for almost 4 percent of the United States gross domestic product in 2020, when Medicare spending was about $917 billion.

On reaching age 65, most Americans are automatically entitled to benefits under Medicare. Nearly 96 percent of elder citizens have Medicare coverage, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

The library is interested in holding similar programs in the future. If there are any particular areas the public would like covered, Rathjen said ideas could be presented to Richardson.

“We continue to evolve with our programs and the outreach to the community,” Rathjen said. “People very often will let us know what they would like to see, what their concerns are. This is where Billie is coming in, because she is one-on-one with them.

“If they have concerns, she’s able to talk to them and then relay back to the library with what, in the community, is very important right now.”

Masks will be required to attend in person. Advance registration is available at monroevillelibrary.org. Any questions regarding how to sign up can be emailed to richardsonb@einetwork.net.