Senior Spotlight

By John Toscano

AARP Says Many Seniors Miss Out On Benefits

One day recently, a 66-year-old woman came into the Sunnyside Senior Center to try to get some help with a problem caused when her roommate moved out of their apartment, leaving her to pay a monthly rent that was higher than her income.

"She came in here crying," recalled Sue Amparo, a benefits specialist at the center." She didn’t know that in New York there’s a program that allows you to freeze the rent while you look for another place to live."

But there would be more good tidings for the woman.

"We ran her name through a computer screening program to see what benefits she was eligible for," Amparo said. As a result of the benefits check, the woman was found eligible for "Medicare Part B, Medicaid, food stamps and a rent subsidy," Amparo added.

The above case was used in a recent article in the AARP Bulletin to illustrate that there are numerous benefits available to seniors especially those with low incomes that are not being used because the people who could use the benefits are not aware of them, applying for them is too much of a task, and find the programs unwelcome because they require some financial information.

What’s available out there and being ignored, the article says is improved medical care, moving into a safer home, getting more nutritious meals or increasing one’s income.

Some seniors are missing out on Food Stamps, some on property tax relief, and some on help paying Medicare premiums, deductibles and coinsurance.

For instance, the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary Program (QMB) can help you if you’re an individual with monthly income below $707 or a couple with income under $942. The program pays premiums, deductibles and coinsurance for Medicare Part A, which provides hospital coverage.

Or there’s the Specified Low Income Medicare Beneficiary Program (SLMB) or QI–1 (Qualifying Individuals–1). These programs are for people with slightly higher incomes which help pay for Medicare Part B coverage for doctor visits.

How do you access these programs?

Start at your local senior center, your doctor or the nearest agency on aging, such as the New York City Department for the Aging, 2 Lafayette St., N.Y. (212-442-1000).

Or call the Eldercare Locator toll free at (800) 677-1116 for info on housing, healthcare, meals, financial aid or transportation.

AARP can help, too. To receive free fact sheets about public benefits, send your name and address to: AARP Fulfillment EEO 1417, 601 E St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20049.

On the Internet, visit the AARP web site, www.aarp. org/pbo. Log on to www.ssa.gov for information about Social Security. For information on Medicare assistance programs, visit www.medicare. gov; about Medicaid, www.hcfa.gov/medicaid/mcaicnsm.htm.

METROCARD ASSISTANCE: City Councilmember Walter McCaffrey (D-Woodside) reports that New York City Transit will be installing three MetroCard vending machines at the 61st Street–Woodside station on the #7 line by the end of August.

McCaffrey had informed NYCT that commuters were subjected to long lines at the token booth at that station, which is also a transfer point for the Long Island Rail Road. The delays were causing people to miss trains, they complained.

LEGAL HELP: The Legal Aid Society of Queens, in association with the highly respected law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison, will prepare wills, health care proxies, durable powers of attorney and living wills free of charge for seniors and other Queens residents who meet financial qualifications, according to the monthly bulletin of the Middle Village Senior Center. For information on the legal aid, call (718) 337-4900.