Tele-town hall comes as 2024 Medicare open enrollment is underway and ends December 7, 2023
PHOENIX – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema held a tele-town hall with over 7,900 Arizonans to help seniors with information about how to enroll, re-enroll, or change their health care plans during the Medicare open enrollment period.
The Senator was joined by Catherine Chavez with the Arizona Department of Economic Security and Marco Mendoza with the Maricopa Area Agency on Aging to help answer questions and provide seniors with key local resources in Arizona. The Senator encouraged seniors and their loved ones to utilize these free, trusted resources to learn about their Medicare options and get their questions answered by experts by contacting the Arizona State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) or an Arizona Area Agency on Aging.
“Input from Arizonans fuels my work in Congress, and as I travel our state meeting with seniors and their families, I hear a lot about how confusing health insurance can be and how difficult Medicare is to navigate. That’s why we’re working to make it easier for Arizona seniors to access the benefits they’ve earned after a lifetime of hard work,” said Sinema.
With nearly 19% of its residents reaching 65 years of age or older, Arizona ranks among the states with the highest population of seniors.
During the tele-town hall, Sinema highlighted her efforts to make it easier for Arizona seniors to navigate and access their health care. The Sinema-backed BENES 2.0 Act simplifies Medicare enrollment for seniors and people with disabilities, while the Sinema-backed Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act cracks down on prior authorization policies that can delay care for seniors with Medicare Advantage plans.
The Senator also discussed how legislation she’s introduced, like the Senior Security Act, and laws that she’s passed like the Anti-Spoofing Penalties Modernization Act protect seniors from bad actors and scammers who pretend to be from Medicare or the Social Security Administration.