Press Releases

Humana, Senior Citizens Bureau to Offer Medicare Insurance Plans

LOUISVILLE, Ky.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Humana (NYSE: HUM) and The Senior Citizens Bureau (SCB) are collaborating to offer Humana Medicare Advantage plans to more than 500,000 SCB members. The Senior Citizens Bureau is one of the nation’s largest non-profit organizations for seniors, and Humana is one of the nation’s largest publicly traded health and supplemental benefits companies with nearly 10.3 million medical members and 6.8 million specialty members.

SCB Medicare Solutions, the name of the new collaborative program, will strive to provide SCB members with high quality, a broad selection and the best value in Medicare health insurance options and service available.

“We’re excited and honored to have Humana Medicare’s sponsorship and support,” said Valerie Stephenson, executive director of the Senior Citizens Bureau. “With ‘SCB Medicare Solutions,’ we’ve simplified insurance options for seniors and made the process easy. In this day and age, this is something they truly appreciate and value, so it’s an important service for us to offer.”

SCB members will have access to a nationwide network of Humana insurance agents who know and understand Humana’s Medicare products and how Medicare works for seniors.

“The Senior Citizens Bureau shares Humana’s commitment to protecting the futures of seniors by offering them products that meet their health care needs,” said Craig Uchytil, vice president of strategic alliances with Humana. “SCB and Humana share some of the same core values, including maintaining integrity in all endeavors; providing customers with products and services of measurable value, and helping Americans live long, healthy and purposeful lives.”

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Raising Grandkids Stresses Grandmothers

But most say benefits for family make it worth it

(HealthDayNews) — Grandmothers responsible for caring for or raising grandchildren suffer more stress and depression than grandmothers without those responsibilities, according to an ongoing study at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

The four year-study of 450 Ohio grandmothers, which began in 2001 and will conclude in 2005, is designed to examine the effect of caregiving on their health.

“These are older women who may have health needs of their own. So caring for a grandchild who may have health problems, developmental challenges or an increased need for care creates additional stress for these grandparents,” study leader Carol Musil, an associate professor of nursing, said in a prepared statement.

She noted that the age of the grandchildren can be a factor. Younger children are more physically demanding, but grandparents often have to expend more psychological and emotional energy on older children.

Still, there are ways to reduce this stress. Previous research found that caregiver grandmothers had better health if they took a pro-active, planned approach to taking care of their grandchildren, rather than ignoring problems, or reacting to them as they occur.

Many caregiver grandmothers say the challenges are offset by the rewards for their family.

“The grandmothers told us that no matter how tired, how stressed or how challenged they were with the care of their grandchildren, they would do anything possible to provide the best outcomes for these children,” Musil said.

More information

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission offers advice for grandparents here:

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs//grand/704.html

Statewide Program Helps Seniors Deal With Abuse

Seminar Hopes To Stifle Financial, Physical, Emotional

SEASIDE, Calif. — The California Attorney General’s Office says hundreds of thousands of elderly and dependent adults are the victims of abuse in the state. On Wednesday, an adult seminar in Seaside hoped to prevent the abuse, whether its financial, physical or emotional.

State officials believe that raising public awareness of elderly abuse through seminars is the first step to helping them.

Elder abuse is a crime, but it often goes unreported because people are ashamed they’ve been abused or swindled, according to officials.

Typically, it’s a family member or relative committing the abuse, experts say. Authorities recommend that those who suspect abuse should report it.

Experts say there are ways to tell if somebody might be trying to financially abuse the elderly.

“When someone wants to come into your house, and you don’t know them,” said Assistant Attorney General Paul Seave. “When they want to do something for free. When they want to sell you something for free. When they seem eager to sell you something. When they say there’s a deadline tomorrow, and you’ve got to do it today. If it’s a lot of money, and they’re not giving you time, chances are it’s a scam.”

There are some steps that can be taken to protect against identity theft:

  • Get a crosscut shredder and use it every day on credit card checks and card offers.
  • Don’t give your personal information out over the phone.
  • Check your credit report once a year.
  • Two of the biggest scams for seniors involve phony prizes or sweepstakes, and phony charities, according to state officials. They should be checked out before any money is given.

There are many local resources to which seniors can turn for help, including a toll-free hotline for reporting suspected abuse (The ElderCare Locator: 1 (800) 677-1116) – and the local District Attorney’s Office for cases of consumer fraud.