Welcome to California Health Advocates
We are dedicated to Medicare advocacy and education for Californians. Our web site provides accurate, unbiased information about Medicare benefits for people who live in California, and resources for professionals working directly with California’s Medicare beneficiaries.
Learn About...
- Options for obtaining prescription drug coverage, and programs for people with low incomes.
- Basic Medicare topics such as eligibility, coverage, Medicare Advantage, Medicare and disabilities, billing and claims, and appeals.
- How Medigap — a private insurance policy — can supplement your Medicare coverage to pay for health care costs that Medicare doesn't cover.
New! Medicare Podcasts
Review Medicare basics and fall enrollment. Available in English and Spanish.
8 most popular pages
- HICAP Medicare counseling
- Fact Sheets
- Extra help with Part D costs for people with low incomes
- Medi-Cal (for people with Medicare)
- Medicare basics
- Medicare Advantage - Medicare Part C
- Medicare Part D - Prescription drugs
- Medicare and other health insurance
Contributing to our work
We welcome tax-deductible contributions and sponsors to support our high quality educational events and publications.
Press Releases
Translated MEDICARE Fact Sheets Now Available in 5 Languages
December 17, 2008 —10 Medicare fact sheets are translated and available in Spanish, Korean, Russian, Chinese, and Vietnamese.
CHA Offers New Spanish and English Medicare Podcasts and Blog
November 5, 2008 — CHA's new Medicare podcasts help both English and Spanish-speaking beneficiaries and their families review Medicare coverage and their health plan options for 2009. CHA also launches its blog with current Medicare news for professionals.
HICAP
Get help with Medicare questions
Call 1-800-434-0222 for free local help with Medicare and other health care issues.
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Medicare News
CMS Proposes New Compensation Limits for Agents Selling Medicare Part C & D Plans
December 31, 2008 While the new compensation limits may help eliminate incentives for agents or brokers to move beneficiaries from plan to plan, a practice known in the industry as "churning," the new rules actually encourage agents to focus their marketing efforts on a specific population - those new to Medicare and those in fee-for-service Medicare.
Easy Resources to Stop Unsolicited Mail, Emails and Telemarketing Calls
November 19, 2008 Beneficiaries can protect themselves from insurance fraud, identity theft, and marketing scams by stopping unsolicited mail, email and telemarketing calls. See the outlined resources.
New Online Tools! 2009 Part D Plan Charts, Fact Sheets, Medicare Marketing Regulations Powerpoint and More
November 12, 2008 For both beneficiaries and advocates, these tools support important health care choices for 2009 during Medicare's fall enrollment period (November 15- December 31).
Reviewing TrOOP and a Little-Known "Cash Price Policy" – Do You Know What Costs Count?
NOVEMBER 12, 2008 Not all out-of-pocket drug expenses count toward a beneficiary reaching his/her Part D catastrophic coverage. Review what costs count and what do not and CMS' "cash price policy."
New Fact Sheet Explains Medicare Coverage for People with End Stage Renal Disease
October 24, 2008 This new fact sheet covers how one qualifies for Medicare, when coverage begins and ends, how it coordinates with employer or union group health plans, and options for other supplemental coverage.
MIPPA Watch #1: Updates on Provisions Now Effective from Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA)
October 17, 2008 Review a chronological list of MIPPA provisions effective retroactively and those effective as of January 2009.
For Professionals
Technical information and specialized resources for people working directly with Medicare beneficiaries:
California Medicare Coalition
A meeting place for individuals and agencies serving and advocating on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries.
Recent Advocacy & Policy:
The Price is Right: the Selling of Medicare - New Marketing Rules Fail to Cure Problems in the Medicare Marketplace (PDF)
DECEMBER 31, 2008 This issue brief: 1) reviews the past 2 years of changes in Medicare marketplace regulations; 2) explores unresolved systemic issues that prevent adequate marketing oversight; 3) analyzes selected new marketing rules, including their shortcomings; and 4) provides recommendations to better protect beneficiaries from ongoing marketing abuses.
CMS' Proposed Rules on New Compensation Limits for Agents Selling Medicare Part C & D Plans
DECEMBER 15, 2008 Comments submitted by CHA, drafted jointly with various advocacy organizations. Comments reveal how proposed compensation rules encourage agents to focus enrollment efforts on people new to Medicare, or those in Original fee-for-service Medicare. Several recommendations included.
Dual Eligibles & Medicare Advantage Plans: Do New Rules Make Them a Better Fit? (PDF)
December 15, 2008 Part 1 explores the topic of dual eligibles in MA plans in general and whether recent legislative and regulatory changes make MA plans, as a whole, a more viable option for dual eligibles; Part 2 explores these changes as they specifically apply to MA Special Needs Plans (SNPs) for dual eligibles.
Education
Specialized training, tools and resources for consumers and advocates on important Medicare topics.
New Fact Sheets and Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Russian translations:
