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The Tampa Bay Times' annual Medicare Guide explains how the program is set up, helps you compare options available in the Tampa Bay area, and points the way toward help, including free, one-on-one assistance. This illustration will grace the cover of LifeTimes on Oct. 23, when the guide will be published in print. RON BORRESEN | Tampa Bay Times
The Times Medicare Guide: A road map for 2020
As the open enrollment period begins, it’s time to review your coverage.
Earlier today• Health
One idea for an aging America: a volunteer corps of caregivers
An arm of the Department of Health and Human Services is taking steps to establish a National Volunteer Care Corps that would recruit healthy retirees and young adults to help seniors live independently. The ranks of Americans age 85 and up are set to swell to 14.6 million in 2040, up from more than 6 million now. Times (2010)
A federal agency is exploring a national volunteer program modeled after the Peace Corps to help care for the booming elderly population.
Oct. 11• Health
Sick children. Brown water. Lost homes. Inside a Clearwater mobile home park.
Kreshae Humphrey, 26, bathes her daughter, Nevaeh Soto De Jesus, 3, inside of a baby bath tub in the middle of their living room. The parents bathe all three of their girls with bottled water because they believe the children were sickened by the tap water at the Southern Comfort mobile home park off U.S. 19 in Clearwater. The family is suing the park's owner over the issue, but the owner and the state say there are no problems with the drinking water there. MARTHA ASENCIO-RHINE | Times
The owner of Southern Comfort denies there are problems with the drinking water. But the park is still being shut down. All families must be out by Oct. 31.
Oct. 11• Clearwater
Tampa Bay may be facing a tough flu season
Ana Martinez, a medical assistant at the Sea Mar Community Health Center in Seattle, gives a patient a flu shot. Some signs are already pointing to an active flu season in the Tampa Bay area. [TED S. WARREN | Associated Press]
One area hospital has seen a sharp increase this month in children coming in with flu-like symptoms. Health officials are urging people to get a flu shot.
Oct. 9• Health

LATEST

  1. As Medicare open enrollment begins, many Florida seniors eye ‘Advantage’ plans
    1 hour ago• Health
    A page from the Medicare Handbook focuses on Medicare Advantage plans, which have become increasingly popular in recent years. Medicare's open enrollment period for 2020 begins Oct. 15 and lasts through Dec. 7. PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS | AP
    New benefits are giving an extra boost to Medicare Advantage, the already popular alternative to traditional Medicare.
  2. The Times Medicare Guide: A road map for 2020
    Earlier today• Health
    The Tampa Bay Times' annual Medicare Guide explains how the program is set up, helps you compare options available in the Tampa Bay area, and points the way toward help, including free, one-on-one assistance. This illustration will grace the cover of LifeTimes on Oct. 23, when the guide will be published in print. RON BORRESEN | Tampa Bay Times
    As the open enrollment period begins, it’s time to review your coverage.
  3. Navigating Medicare in 2020: What you need to know
    Yesterday• Health
    The Medicare Handbook for 2020 is a good resource to have as the annual open enrollment period gets under way. The government usually mails beneficiaries a copy. Find a PDF version to print at medicare.gov/pub/medicare-you-handbook, or call 1-800-633-4227 (1-800-MEDICARE) to order a copy. THOMAS TOBIN | Tampa Bay Times
    The open enrollment period, which lasts into December, is a time for millions of beneficiaries to review, and possibly change, their coverage.
  4. Medicare’s online Plan Finder gets an overhaul
    Yesterday• Health
    Medicare's online Plan Finder has been redesigned and is available at medicare.gov/find-a-plan. THOMAS TOBIN | Tampa Bay Times
    The most-used tool on Medicare.gov will look different this year.
  5. Questions about Medicare coverage? A Florida program offers personalized help.
    Yesterday• Health
    Jim Tolbert, left, staffs a booth at a senior expo for Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders, or SHINE, a state program that answers Medicare and other insurance questions. The program has scheduled a number of events around the Tampa Bay area during Medicare's open enrollment period, Oct. 15 to Dec. 7. Times (2015)
    About 500 volunteers statewide are at the ready. They work for Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders, or SHINE, now in its 28th year.
  6. Where you die can affect your chance of being an organ donor
    Yesterday• Health
    In this Sept. 6, 2019, photo, Donna Cryer holds up family photos that include her father Roland Henry, as she poses for a photo in Washington. When her father died, she tried to donate his organs, yet the local organ collection agency said no, without talking to the family or providing a reason. "It was devastating to be told there was nothing they considered worthy of donation. Nada. Not a kidney, not a liver, not tissue,” recalled Donna Cryer, president of the nonprofit Global Liver Institute and herself a recipient of a liver transplant. SUSAN WALSH | AP
    Under U.S. transplant rules, the country is divided into 58 zones, each assigned an “organ procurement organization” in charge of donation at death.
  7. Sick children. Brown water. Lost homes. Inside a Clearwater mobile home park.
    Oct. 11• Clearwater
    Kreshae Humphrey, 26, bathes her daughter, Nevaeh Soto De Jesus, 3, inside of a baby bath tub in the middle of their living room. The parents bathe all three of their girls with bottled water because they believe the children were sickened by the tap water at the Southern Comfort mobile home park off U.S. 19 in Clearwater. The family is suing the park's owner over the issue, but the owner and the state say there are no problems with the drinking water there. MARTHA ASENCIO-RHINE | Times
    The owner of Southern Comfort denies there are problems with the drinking water. But the park is still being shut down. All families must be out by Oct. 31.
  8. One idea for an aging America: a volunteer corps of caregivers
    Oct. 11• Health
    An arm of the Department of Health and Human Services is taking steps to establish a National Volunteer Care Corps that would recruit healthy retirees and young adults to help seniors live independently. The ranks of Americans age 85 and up are set to swell to 14.6 million in 2040, up from more than 6 million now. Times (2010)
    A federal agency is exploring a national volunteer program modeled after the Peace Corps to help care for the booming elderly population.
  9. Mailers, come-hither salespeople and no-obligation TV ads: Happy 65th birthday
    Oct. 10• Pasco
    Medicare can be confusing. But there's help from trained counselors for SHINE. Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders is a free program offered by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs and your local Area Agency on Aging. Michele Miller
    Columnist Michele Miller shares her husband’s journey to get on Medicare and how local volunteers can help seniors navigate the system.
  10. Tampa Bay may be facing a tough flu season
    Oct. 9• Health
    Ana Martinez, a medical assistant at the Sea Mar Community Health Center in Seattle, gives a patient a flu shot. Some signs are already pointing to an active flu season in the Tampa Bay area. [TED S. WARREN | Associated Press]
    One area hospital has seen a sharp increase this month in children coming in with flu-like symptoms. Health officials are urging people to get a flu shot.
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