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| LITTLE KNOWN FREE BENEFITS FOR UNINSURED, LOW INCOME, SENIORS, DISABLED AND MEDICARE AND MEDICAID PATIENTS by Michael Marki |
I compiled this information from Internet research, phone calls to agencies and chatting with numerous people online and meeting them in person. My only motive is to help out others that are disabled and are living on low income like myself. These will also help seniors, uninsured and others. Most of these are available in the Greenville County, South Carolina area but the same or similar programs are also available elsewhere. I live in Greenville County that’s why I focused on this area, though some are available nationwide. I found that there are a number of programs and benefits that many do not know about. Some people I have told this information to never pursued it even though it was to their advantage to do so, they just brushed it off but that's their decision. If anyone knows of any other benefits or programs that will help out others please notify me by email mikemarki2012@yahoo.com and I will add the information on here. If someone reads this as compared to just being told they are more likely to understand it better. If this helps even one person then I accomplished what I set out to do though I hope it helps out many. If anyone sees anything that needs corrected please notify me of that too. This information is accurate to the best of my knowledge and the links posted on here will lead to finding additional programs and benefits. With the changes in government some of these may be eventually cut, others may be added and some may have lowered the bar so more people can qualify, this may be due to the stimulus package. If you think you will not be eligible for any of these without even reading the guidelines or applying then you are doing nothing to help yourself. If you have applied before and were not eligible then you should apply again since the guidelines may have changed or else you may now become eligible under an exception or appeal and certain circumstances could be taken into consideration. If you are reading this then you are likely disabled and unable to work which means you have plenty of free time, wouldn't it be worth it to check into these programs online or make that 5 minute phone call to try and make life more comfortable for you and your family? Does it really hurt to find out?
"God helps those who help themselves." "You can lead a horse to water but you can not make him drink." AVAILABLE INSURANCE FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID AND OTHERS: Many people on medicare or medicaid do not realize that there are insurance plans that are available with no premium, that means at no charge to them. There are different insurance plans to meet different needs, what is the right plan for me may not be the right plan for someone else. If you want to get the most out of your medicaid or medicare contact one of the representatives below. If you are already on an insurance plan a phone call to either representative will let you know if there is another plan available that would better fit your needs. Roxane Lightcap is an insurance agent with Consolidated Insured Benefits of Greenville. She offers Southeast Community Care, she also offers Medicare Advantage Plans: Care Improvement Plus, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Coventry Health Care, Humana, Instill, Wellcare, Unicare, America's First Choice, and now offering low cost Final Expense thru Columbia Life Insurance. Southeast Community Care and Care Improvement Plus both have excellent Special Needs Plans for those on Medicare and Medicaid. Roxanes phone number is 864-607-7281 (cell) and 864-271-6863 (office). Senior Solutions of Greenville benefits specialist Patricia Mello offers Southeast Community Care and Care Improvement Plus in addition to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, AARP policies, United Healthcare, dental, vision and hearing plans. She now has Forever Remembered, a plan which sends a check to your grand children, children or anyone else you want to remember on special occasions long after your gone. Many seniors purchase this plan for their church. Long after you have passed your church can receive a yearly check from you. It is a great gift that keeps on giving for 20 years after your death. She now has a free medical pendant and home security system for home owners. The system is totally free but the monthly monitoring must be paid by the client. Depending on what services they choose it runs from about $1.20 a day to $1.50 a day. This is a great low cost program for people with health problems living alone. She also offers Final Expense, Cancer, Life Insurance and Long Term Care products. Pattie's phone number is 864-271-8755 (home) and 864-241-2154 (office), her email address is pemello@aol.com . Unison Health Plan www.unisonhealthplan.com 1-800-414-9025 and SC Solutions phone number 1-888-366-6243 First Choice 1-888-276-2020 Absolute Total Care 1-866-433-6041 Carolina Crescent 1-866-748-8661 other insurance plans for South Carolina www.scchoices.com I get my generic prescriptions from CVS, which has a service of mailing the prescriptions to the patient’s home at no charge; this saves gas money and is more convenient. That phone number is 1-888-607-4287 and this option is open to anyone http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/help/help_subtopic_details.jsp?subtopicName=Shipping+information+for+prescriptions&topicid=400023 Walmart offers 90 day generics for $10 mailed to the home for free http://www.walmart.com/pharmacy Pharmacies offering no charge mailing along with $4 generic prescriptions have become popular, the links to these can be found on this web site, http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/generic$.htm Compare prescription prices from competing online pharmacies www.pharmacychecker.com and major pharmacy store chains price comparisions http://www.leslieslist.org/low-cost-prescriptions.php and call around to compare prices. When a doctor prescribes a medication be sure to ask for free samples they often have plenty and doctors and pharmacists often have coupons for medications. And ask if a lower cost generic form of the prescribed medication is available or if a cheaper over the counter medication (OTC) will achieve the same effect or a cheaper priced prescription medication. If you are taking a tablet that comes in more than one strength (say 15mg and 30mg), you may be able to cut your medication costs by having the higher strength tablets cut in half. Talk to your doctor and pharmacist to see if this is a viable option for you. Most pharmacies will happily split the pills for you, but you can purchase an inexpensive pill splitter, if you need to do it yourself. Some pharmacies may offer a discount for switching a prescription from another pharmacy. If you are a veteran, check with the Veterans Administration to see if you qualify for benefits. Buying in 90 day supplies can be cheaper than buying in 30 day supplies, be sure to follow the storage information to maintain its quality. I found free prescription programs also that I use to get my brand name medications from but I will get into that a little later. ASSISTANCE PAYING UTILITY BILLS AND HOUSING: People of low income, Medicaid patients, those that receive food stamps or live on tribal lands may be eligible to get some communication services at a discount rate such as a reduced cost for home phone service and bundle packages, from AT&T formerly Bell South, Verizon, Cox communications and others. It is called the LifeLine program http://www.lifelinesupport.org/li/default.aspx Here is a nationwide clearinghouse for low income energy assistance programs http://www.liheap.ncat.org/sp.htm If you contact www.scshare.com by phone they also have utility help available or they can direct you to someone that does. I never needed help paying my utility bills but I have found that using energy saving fluorescent light bulbs keep my electric bill low and after 6 years they are all still working. Consumer Reports rated the GE brand 41525 as number 1 and the lowest price I found is at Walmart. A low flow shower head and a toilet dam will help keep your water bill low. These are very simple to install, only takes a minute. Here are links that sell water and energy saving devices and energy saving tips www.amconservationgroup.com http://www.feedthepig.org/savingstips There is alot of energy saving information online and can be found by using such search terms as energy vampires, energy saving, energy efficient and now with global warming the word "green" is associated with reducing energy usage and reducing energy costs. I also referred to Consumer Reports magazine before choosing an energy and water efficient washing machine and energy efficient dryer, this magazine is at your local library and also some of the ratings are available online at www.consumerreports.org Prices for items tested can be compared online at the various stores and most major stores will meet or beat a competitors price if you let them know you found the same exact item at a lower cost elsewhere and delivery charges vary with each store. As far as I know these programs are designed to assist the disabled with finding affordable housing nationwide www.voa.org www.HUD.gov www.HABITAT.org www.NCIL.org 202-207-0334. For seniors www.aplaceformom.com CLICK HERE FOR PAGE 2 >> www.maxpages.com/helpbenefits/helpbenefits2 CLICK HERE FOR PAGE 3 >> www.maxpages.com/helpbenefits/helpbenefits3 |
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