Computers Slated for Senior Centers
WASHINGTON — To encourage retirees to surf the Internet for information that can help them pick a Medicare health plan, the government will put computers in hundreds of senior citizens centers across the country.
“Bringing seniors into cyberspace is an efficient way to keep our beneficiaries up to date about our programs so they can make informed health care decisions,” said Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, deputy administrator for the agency that runs Medicare.
Starting next year, Medicare will open more kinds of managed care health plans to seniors. The plans get fixed monthly fees from Medicare to provide all covered care.
To help seniors choose, the agency by the end of this year will post on its Internet site online charts comparing premiums, co-payments and benefits for all available plans.
But since many older people don’t have their own computers at home, Medicare this summer offered about 500 government surplus computers with operating software to senior centers nationally.
Medicare already posts a variety of consumer information on its Internet site. The address is http//www.hcfa.gov.
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