Grant Goals:

The Medicare Rights Center hoped to:

1. Equip SEBCO staff members with comprehensive Medicare knowledge so that all counseling and enrollment responsibilities could be transferred to, and sustained by, SEBCO staff after the grant period.
2. Reach 800 Southeast Bronx Community Organization (SEBCO) residents through bilingual group presentations and one-on-one counseling on Medicare low-income programs.
3. Enroll 250 people in Medicare low-income programs, thus saving SEBCO residents $400,000 during the course of the grant.
4. Train seven SEBCO residence coordinators and staff members on Medicare issues via meetings, monthly follow-up trainings, and updates via a “train-the-trainer” model
5. Increase senior residents’ awareness of preventive care.

Grant Outcomes:

• Medicare Rights conducted more than 100 site visits and counseled approximately 400 Bronx seniors on Medicare issues.
• Although Medicare Rights did not meet its outreach goal of 800 residents, it exceeded its target with respect to the number of residents enrolled in low-income programs and receiving assistance with Medicare Part D.
• Medicare Rights also exceeded its goal in terms of the amount of savings secured for SEBCO residents, earning a 6:1 return on NYSHealth’s initial investment.
• Medicare Rights’ caseworkers transitioned from being direct service providers to being technical assistance providers, as SEBCO residence coordinators began providing Medicare presentations and assisting residents.

Grantee Information:

• Grantee Website: http://www.medicarerights.org/
• Grant Amount: $110,019

Grant Goals:

PHI anticipated that it would:

1. Document the health insurance crisis faced by home care workers and employers in New York State.
2. Provide a blueprint for key State officials and other stakeholders that would enable them to ensure coverage and expanded coverage for New York’s home care workers on a continuum.
3. Evaluate the success of the initiative based on stakeholder recognition, and evidence that recommendations have been, or plan to be, implemented.
4. Demonstrate success in sustainable and expanded health coverage benefits for the home care workforce.

Grant Outcomes:

Staff members faced many challenges with this project including low a survey response rate and inability to demonstrate success in ensuring continued and expanded health coverage benefits for home care workers. They did, however, accomplish the following goals:

• Surveyed a sample of New York’s home care agencies with a response rate of 17.8%.
• Documented the health insurance issues faced by workers of these agencies, which found that 90% of employers believe health insurance is “essential” or “important” to the recruitment and retention of home care workers; and public agencies, which are primarily located upstate, are more likely than for-profit and nonprofit agencies to offer health care coverage.
• Created a roadmap for policymakers using these recommendations based on data retrieved by the home care workers.

Grantee Information:

• Grantee Website: http://www.paraprofessional.org/
• Grant Amount: $108,810