By Harriet Flehinger
I’m 8 months away from Medicare. Funny that I never again thought I would look forward to being older but I CAN’T WAIT. My Upper West Side neighborhood is “book-ended” by St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital on the North and South. Much as I hope to stay out of hospitals, it’s reassuring to know I’m never far from some of the country’s top medical care.
Amy Burstein, from the New York City Dept of Aging, explained all the ins and outs of Medicare to about 75 attendees on Monday, Nov. 14 at the JCC on West 76th Street.
A few facts I picked up:
1) Medicare was enacted 47 years ago, under Lyndon Johnson’s presidency. Prior to that, seniors had no medical coverage.
2) Within 20 years, there will be more people over 65 in NYC than there will be K-12 schoolchildren.
3) Someone in the 5 boroughs of NYC is turning 65 every 10 minutes.
4) There are 1.3 million people in the 5 boroughs on Medicare right now.
5) There are approximately 40,000 doctors in New York City. Under traditional Medicare, you can visit any of them.
6) There are more than 7000 different services and diagnostic codes programmed into the Medicare system.
New York City’s very well written booklet, “A Complete Guide to Health Care Coverage for Older Americans” is available in English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Korean and can be downloaded as a PDF.
Harriet Flehinger writes about the community of active seniors on the Upper West Side for the West Side Rag. Read her previous columns and stories here.
