Over the last month, I had the great opportunity to learn from several people (many on here) about their experiences with a loved one's health journey. 🙏
While each person conveyed unique experiences, one common challenge kept arising in these conversations – the struggle with transportation to medical appointments. Health complications and disability prevented their loved one from driving and they now had to rely on their support network to make it to their healthcare appointments.
Motivated by these stories, we wanted to use our blog to increase awareness of an underutilized Medicare benefit that can help – non-emergency medical transportation services. Available to those with certain Medicare plans, but not highly utilized partially due to a lack of advertisement.
By sharing insights from research and offering practical actions, this post aims to highlight why transportation is such a vital issue affecting seniors’ wellbeing. If you or your loved one is struggling with transportation, we hope “Getting a Lift: Unlocking Transportation Benefits in Medicare” empowers health & wellness.
Transportation challenges prevent many seniors from getting to critical medical appointments - which makes them feel isolated and harms their health. However, certain Medicare plans offer valuable but underutilized transportation benefits that unlock access to healthcare.
Non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) services provide rides that are available to many seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage and dual eligible plans. Unfortunately, few eligible seniors leverage these offerings due to lack of awareness.
In one study, researchers found only 27% of seniors knew NEMT was available to them, and other researchers found just 16% of dual beneficiaries used their benefit. Yet for those accessing services, it's hugely impactful for empowering health management.
Without available rides, more burden falls on the support network of family and friends.
This post of ours explains differences in available transportation benefits across various Medicare plan types. It also shares little-known statistics demonstrating seniors’ desire for transportation help along with quotes from seniors about the value of NEMT services to them. Finally, an action plan is provided for how readers can navigate NEMT offerings in their or loved one’s plans.
https://lnkd.in/g44Y3pxR
Getting a Lift: Unlocking Transportation Benefits in Medicare
carekate.com