by Jayson Cohen, American Legacy Solutions

In today’s world we constantly see things changes and it has come to the point that the only thing that is constant in our life is change. Our organization is constantly asked to explain Medicare in its simplest form. You will find as you read through this article that we are breaking down the four main parts of Medicare into a basic chart*.

Before we get into the parts let first discuss what Medicare is. Medicare is health insurance for the following: People age 65 or older, People under age 65 with certain disabilities, and people of any age with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant.

Not that we have the basic understanding of what Medicare is and who it is for, let’s go through the four main parts.

Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) helps cover:

• Impatient Care in Hospitals
• Skilled Nursing Facility Care
• Hospice Care
• Home Health Care

Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) helps cover:

• Services from Doctors and other health care providers
• Outpatient Care
• Home Health Care
• Durable Medicare Equipment
• Some Preventative Services

Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage):

• Includes all benefits and services covered under Part A and Part B
• Run by Medicare-approved private insurance companies
• Usually includes Medicare Prescription drug coverage (Part D) as part of the plan
• May include extra benefits and services for an extra cost

Medicare Part D (Medicare prescription drug coverage):

• Helps cover the cost of prescription drugs
• Run by Medicare-approved private insurance company
• May help lower your prescription drug costs and help protect against higher costs in the future

Now having the basic information of what the four parts of Medicare cover, make sure that as you look into your options, make sure you company a number of companies in your area. This will allow you to compare the plans and find the right one for you. At the end of the day wouldn’t you agree that it is all about you? Please check back regularly as we will be addressing different questions and concerns in this section.

*all information has been pulled from CMS Product number 11514, revised October 2016.

On Thursday, May 25 The Palms At Bonaventure presented  A Taste of Italy. A special culinary event prepared by Chef Michael Callahan and enjoyed by residents and guests. The Palms is located at 111 N. Wells Rd. in Ventura.

by Patty Jenkins

What is that new California law all about anyway and how does it work? What exactly are our end-of-life choices? What other options are there to help keep me and my loved ones comfortable before I go?

The Ventura Parkinson’s Disease Support Group is having a special meeting to enlighten us all about a subject we mostly avoid because after all, we are all going to live forever, right? Come to our meeting Wednesday, June 14,  from 1:00 to 3:00 pm at The Lexington Assisted Living, 5440 Ralston St. for answers and information about all of the choices available to us in California. Then we can all go back to not talking about it because we’ll have some peace of mind.

We are pleased to have Erika Ruiz, California Outreach Manager for Compassion & Choices, give us a presentation at the beginning of our meeting to explain the California End of Life Option Act that authorizes medical aid in dying and how to access the Act. Erika’s interest in advocating for and educating on end of life care options stems from her personal experience trying to help a beloved family member during his final days.

Although we mostly don’t want to have these conversations it is important to have them and understand our priorities and options to help overcome our fears. Which is why we are also pleased to have the Director of Community Memorial Health Care’s Palliative Care/Ventura Care Partners, Diana Jaquez, RN and Cathy Dorsey, LCSW along with Bruce Bednar, MAG and Director of Managed Care, Roze Room Hospice of Ventura, joining us to help us understand the differences between Palliative and Hospice Care and how they all work to help us and our loved ones when it turns out apparently we aren’t going to live forever, at least probably not on this planet.

Thanks to the generosity of the Lexington Assisted for donating space for us, the Ventura Parkinson’s Disease Support Group is able to have meetings every second Wednesday of each month from 1-3pm at the Lexington. Please check in at the front desk for directions and sign-in at the meeting. Extra parking is graciously available across the street from the Lexington in the Baptist Church parking lot. Call me at 766-6070 for further information. Reservations are not required. We are an independent and volunteer-organized group not affiliated with or a part of any other organization or group

Alzheimer’s disease is a growing epidemic affecting more than 5 million Americans today and as many as 16 million by 2050. To better inform the public about Alzheimer’s disease, the Alzheimer’s Association, California Central Chapter will be hosting its sixth annual conference, “Dementia: Current Trends & Future Directions.” The all-day event will start at 8:30 a.m. at the Ventura Marriott. Thursday, June 8 at 8:30 a.m.

Speakers include distinguished professionals in their fields, including:

• Cordula Dick-Muehlke, PhD, Consultant in Aging and Dementia for Cordula Cares
• James A. Hendrix, PhD, Director of Global Science Initiatives for the Alzheimer’s Association
• Heather McKay, MS, OT/L, Dementia Care Specialist for Partnership for Health
• Alexandra Morris, Professional Training Specialist for the Alzheimer’s Association
• Brock Travis, PhD, Meditation Instructor and Spiritual Counselor

The day will include workshops and presentations, covering the three stages of dementia, with topics on treating and supporting those with dementia, understanding dementia behaviors, communicating for caregivers, and updates on Alzheimer’s research.

Six continuing education units (CEUs) will be granted for professional attendees.

• BRN number: 10424
• CNA/HHA: 6094 (pending)
• LCSW/LMFT: 1121
• RN/LVN: CEP12415
• RCFE: 2000072-740-2 (pending)

Registration is available at https://goo.gl/AFqNvB. registration closes May 30. For all questions and comments, please contact Donna Beal, MPH, MCHES at 892.4259 ext. 107 or [email protected].

Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse Association supports the total well-being of our community by hosting free monthly education classes throughout the county which include the following in Ventura (others are in Ojai,  Camarillo and Oxnard). At Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse Association office, 1996 Eastman Ave., Suite 109. Call 642-0239 for more information or email [email protected].

Adult Bereavement Support Group Wednesdays, June  7, 14, 21, and 28 from 6:30-8:00 pm.  These groups are open to individuals who have experienced loss and are free of charge.

Newly Bereaved Support Group Thursday, June 8th from 6-7:30.  This monthly group is designed for adults who have recently experienced the loss of a loved one and is free.  These groups meet every 2nd Thursday of each month.

Diabetes Classes:  Tuesday, June 6th  from 1-2:30pm.  These meetings are held on 1st Tuesday of each month.  General information is provided about Type 2 Diabetes including prediabetes, with emphasis on meal planning, medication, exercise, blood sugar monitoring, and new developments in diabetes.

Joint Replacement Classes: Thursday, June 1st from 1:00-2:00pm. You will learn what to expect before, during and after knee or hip replacement surgery and how to be an active participant in your care. These meetings are 1st Thursday of each month.

Monday, June 12th for both English and Spanish speaking.  English 4:00-5:00 pm and Spanish 5:30-6:30. You will learn what to expect before, during and after knee or hip replacement surgery and how to be an active participant in your care.

Can youthful vigor and budding brains overcome the life experience of their elders in a match of wits, wisdom, memory and just plain common sense in a Jeopardy-like contest?

Come to the Knowledge Bowl and experience a true “Battle of the Ages,” now in its eighth year. This time, four teens from Ventura’s Blue-Ribbon Award winning school, Foothill Technology High, face off against four experienced elders from two Ventura-area senior nursing facilities, the Ventura Townehouse and Coastal View.

The free public contest starts at 2 p.m. Monday, June 5 at the Townehouse’s Vista Room, 4900 Telegraph Rd., high atop the seventh floor across from Ventura College.

“The Knowledge Bowl is an extension of my idea to unite our community by building bridges between the ages,” said Suz Montgomery. She is the founder of the Knowledge Bowl, arising from her work with the school district’s Ventura Adult and Continuing Education (VACE).

The event draws many dignitaries along with the public, most of whom can’t help themselves by answering the questions to each other; in a whisper, of course. It also attracts the local print media and will be filmed by CAPS-TV (Channel 15).

The team of elders includes three retired teachers: Ethel Johnduff, Clint Jacobs, Mary Ayres and one entrepreneur, Charlie McMillan. Montgomery is their coach.

The Foothill team is coached by Linda Kapala, the school’s Career/Media Specialist who also crafted most of the questions. She has gathered a team consisting of one senior, Chris Clark; two juniors, Simon Reyes and Angela Zablocki, and Sophomore Mason King.

Cabrillo Middle School Principal Lorelle Dawes is back as the Bowl’s long-time moderator who asks alternating questions to each team. If the team can’t answer or answers incorrectly, it is asked of the other team.

Last year’s Bowl was a squeaker, with each team correctly answering 21 questions each. A last question allows each team to bet some or all its points. Both teams identified the names of all four Beatles, and both bet 21 points to tie, which earned a standing ovation from the audience.

by Joel White-President of the Council for Affordable Health Coverage.

Seema Verma, the new administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, recently praised Medicare’s prescription drug benefit for giving seniors access to affordable medicines, saying she was “thankful” for the program.

There’s a lot to be thankful for. Medicare Part D, as the drug benefit is known, provides seniors with huge discounts on medicines, enabling them to live healthier, longer lives. That’s good news for the more than 41 million Americans who currently rely on the program for prescription drug coverage.

Nevertheless, Rep. Elijah Cummings, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and some other members of Congress believe the program isn’t cost-effective enough. Current law says the government can’t meddle in price negotiations. Many wrongly assume that means there are no price negotiations, which is not true. Discounts are negotiated every day in Part D, but not by the government, by the private sector. To achieve greater savings, they’ve proposed letting the government “negotiate” drug prices.

The policy change would be a disaster. Government wouldn’t negotiate — it would simply set prices and refuse to cover medicines it deemed too expensive. That would deprive seniors of life-sustaining medications.

Part D’s success is driven by market competition, not government control. Private insurers negotiate with drug firms to secure discounts — an average of 35 — off the list price of medicines.

Plans extract big discounts from drug makers by threatening to steer patients to a rival company’s drug. Consider what happened with a new class of hepatitis C treatments, which cure the disease in more than 90 percent of patients with few side effects. When only one treatment was available, plans providers negotiated rebates that shaved 22 percent off the drug’s list price.

But once a competing drug was introduced, plans negotiated a 46 percent average rebate.

Insurers transfer savings like these to consumers in the form of lower plan premiums, co-pays, and deductibles — the Part D law requires it. Seniors can choose whichever Part D plans — ranging from basic, no-frills options to extremely generous coverage — suit them best.

There’s a strong incentive for insurers to keep costs low. If they don’t, seniors can jump ship and enroll in a rival insurer’s Part D plan. Because of this competition, total costs for Part D came in $349 billion lower than the Congressional Budget Office’s cost projections for 2004-2013.

Which other government program comes in hundreds of billions under budget?

If the government meddles with what’s in patients’ medicine cabinets, it will jeopardize all these gains.

As the CBO has made clear, the government wouldn’t be able to negotiate prices that are lower than what private insurers already get.  To keep costs down, the government might ration access to medicines by establishing a formulary — a list that dictates which drugs are covered, and at which co-payment levels.

If the government were to establish a formulary, it would be one-size-fits-all. We’ve seen this happen at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA’s formulary doesn’t cover one-fifth of the top 200 most commonly prescribed Medicare Part D drugs, according to a 2015 study by the research firm Avalere Health.

Part D largely owes its success to the free-market principles of choice and competition. Let’s hope Ms. Verma defends those principles as the drug cost debate heats up. Getting the government more involved in Part D plans would be a step backwards for patients and taxpayers.

Drug abuse, whether prescription or illicit drugs, can have serious consequences, particularly for older adults. While there are obviously luxury drug rehab centers available to those struggling from addiction, it is always best to focus on prevention. However, there are many different reasons why people abuse drugs and become addicted to them. It’s not the end of the world though if people do because addicted to drugs, as there are a few things that people can to help them with their addiction. Some people are capable of overcoming their addiction with just the help and support of their friends. Whilst others might need to go to an inpatient facility (if this is something which you are interested in finding out more about then you can click here). People can become addicted to drugs for many reasons though. These reasons need to be taken into account when considering how to best prevent drug abuse. Family members, friends, pharmacists, and health care providers can all be involved in preventing drug abuse among older adults.

There are steps that you as a patient can take to prevent abuse of prescription medications and its consequences.

When visiting the doctor or pharmacist, bring along all prescription and over-the-counter medicines that you take — or a list of the medicines and their dosages (how much you take and how often). Your doctor can make sure your medicines are right for you and make changes if necessary.

Always follow medication directions carefully.

Only use the medication for its prescribed purpose.

Do not crush or break pills.

Ask how the medication will affect driving and other daily activities.

Do not use other people’s prescription medications, and do not share yours.

Do not stop taking a medicine on your own. Talk to your doctor if you are having side effects or other problems.

Learn about the medicine’s possible interactions with alcohol and other prescription and over-the-counter medicines, and follow your doctor’s instructions to avoid these interactions.

Answer honestly if a doctor or other health care professional asks you about other drug or alcohol use. Without that information, your doctor may not be able to provide you with the best care. Also, if you have a substance problem, he or she can help you find the right treatment to prevent more serious problems from developing, including addiction.

Preventing illicit drug use in older adults requires first knowing what contributes to it. For people of all ages, an individual’s biology (including their genetics) and the environment, as well as how the two act together, determine a person’s vulnerability to drug abuse and addiction — or can protect against it. For example, being exposed to drugs of abuse in youth, living in a community where drug use is prevalent, having untreated mental disorders, such as depression, or dealing with difficult transition periods such as retirement or loss of a spouse can all make an older adult more vulnerable to drug abuse. There are solutions in place for those who have experienced a wake-up call in their battle with drug abuse and who are now seeking drug rehab using the facilities and services of rehabilitation centers.

Prevention efforts must focus on gaining a better understanding of the factors that promote illicit drug use in older adults. Prevention also includes finding ways to stop drug use before it worsens and leads to health problems, including addiction. Family members can play an important role by being aware of an older relative’s well-being and possible drug abuse, and stepping in to help at an early stage or organising a trip to The Avante Ibogaine Institute, if necessary. Doctors should ask their older patients about potential drug abuse and make referrals as needed.

Honoring those who have served our country is something the managers of Cypress Place Senior Living in Ventura care deeply about.  But this year their annual event to honor Veterans has taken on even more significance.

“Our country is divided right now,” said Mike Macke, director of sales and marketing at Cypress Place Senior Living.  “We need to find common ground as citizens, no matter how small.  The one thing we can all agree on is the importance of honoring those who have served our country.”

To do this the senior community has launched their “If You’re Free, Thank A Vet” campaign.  During the month of June, pins with that saying on it will be available at Cypress Place for anyone who would like to stop by and pick one up.

“Maybe you have a neighbor who is a Vet,” said Steve Spira, executive director of Cypress Place.  “We ask that you stop by and get a pin to take to them.  Or wear it so they know you support them.  We are free to express our differences and beliefs because our Veterans stood watch, protected, and served unfailing for all.”

The pins will be available from June 1, 2017 until June 28, 2017 when the senior community hosts their annual “Salute To Our Veteran’s” celebration with a ceremony recognizing residents of Cypress Place, as well as members of the public, who served their country.  The event is free and open to the public.   All Veterans are encouraged to attend, as well as families, friends and neighbors.

A military Color Guard presentation will lead the tribute, followed by a special Veteran recognition, along with recognition of widows and widowers of Veterans.  Special guest speakers include Mike McManus, Veteran’s Service Officer from the County of Ventura, a keynote speaker from Naval Base Ventura County, and other dignitaries.  TAPS will also be played at this touching tribute.

A free BBQ lunch will follow the powerful program.   “Touching History”, a private war memorabilia collection by Tom Weaver will also be displayed, along with memorabilia from residents of the senior community.

“This is an event for the community to come out and show their support for Veterans, whether you know them or not,” said Macke.  “If you have children, bring them to meet someone who has served their country.   Let’s begin the process of uniting our country, one citizen at a time.”

The event begins promptly at 11am on Wednesday, June 28th, 2017 at Cypress Place Senior Living.  Cypress Place Senior Living is located at 1200 Cypress Point Lane in Ventura.  For more information or to RSVP, please call 805-650-8000.

Free shuttle parking will be available at Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura (corner of Ralston Street and Cypress Point Lane).

To learn more about Cypress Place Senior Living of Ventura, visit their web site at www.cypressplaceseniorliving.com.