TY - JOUR AU - Chaufan, Claudia PY - 2010/04/26 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - MEDICARE REPORT: ASSESSING MARKET COMPETITION IN HEALTH CARE: THE NEW PRESCRIPTION DRUG "BENEFIT" FOR SENIORS JF - TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology JA - TRAILS VL - IS - SE - DO - UR - https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/medicare-report-assessing-market-competition-in SP - AB - Imagine you are helping an elderly relative (e.g. a grandparent) to sign up for Medicare Part D, and choose a drug plan. They have still not signed up because they are overwhelmed by the choices, and scared that whatever insurance plan they choose would be worse than choosing none at all. But they are aware that as time goes by, if they finally do sign up they will have to pay a penalty, hence they have decided to go ahead. Yet, they still feel overwhelmed and you have offered them your help. Your task is to call any of the 800 numbers that offer information about the drug benefit (you first need to find out the numbers through the Medicare.gov website). It is important that you call in addition to looking for information over the web because I want you to get a taste of what thousands of seniors (who do not have internet skills) have been compelled to do. It will also make our comparisons more valid when later compare our experiences in class. ER -