Local officials worry that a cut to a federal program that helps seniors navigate the world of health care could hurt the elderly in Franklin County.
The region’s service provider LifePath houses the county branch of the statewide program, Serving the Health Information Needs of Elders (SHINE). The $1.1M Massachusetts program serves roughly 3,700 people a year across 54 towns.
SHINE, which goes by various names in other states, is paid for through the federal State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) and is on the chopping block following a new 2017 budget proposal by President Donald Trump.
“Consumers are left to make decisions on their health care based on information provided by health care insurers,” Executive Director of LifePath Roseann Martoccia. “They’re not going to give you information that is comparative and objective.”
The money provided to the organization goes to paying for regional coordinators’ salaries and helping to pay for programs to teach volunteers about the intricacies of the ever-evolving health care system.
The program teaches volunteers, typically retired professionals in LifePath’s case, about the details of health care. These volunteers work on average of five hours per week, helping those who schedule an appointment figure out the best plan for them based on all of their available options.
Martoccia said that if the program was cut, elders would likely get information with a slant from the insurance provider they speak to instead of a neutral source like they would at LifePath through SHINE.
“Medicare is a very complex, confusing health system right now,” elder care lobbyist and Greenfield resident Al Norman said.
“What was happening was people needed guidance on what to do when they were becoming a Medicare beneficiary.”
Norman explained the program, which runs out of the organization where he once was executive director, as a middle ground that helps to clear up the intricacies of health care, particularly in a state like Massachusetts where there are potentially multiple options for the elderly.
The proposed cut to this money for the rest of the 2017 fiscal year would halt a program that provides personal counseling with experts on potential plans for care, with the option of a calling a “800” number.
“It’s a classic brush-off to tell somebody to call a ‘800’ number,” Norman said. “That resource is not even wildly comparable to a person-to-person.”
Norman hopes that Congress will not allow this cut and expects that the proverbial can may be kicked down the road another year to allow the program, which serves many constituents not only statewide but nationwide, to continue.
You can reach
Joshua Solomon at:
jsolomon@recorder.com
413-772-0261, ext. 264