During the seven-week Medicare Open Enrollment Period (OEP) at the end of 2022, our Seniors’ Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) trained staff and volunteers provided insurance counseling to 1,064 Durham residents. This navigation assistance helped the individuals who switched their plans save nearly $1,000,000 on their Medicare drug coverage alone! This doesn’t include the many other ways we help individuals – in addition to saving prescription dollars, they avoid medication-related problems, ensure access to needed providers, and tap other programs that support well-being. Those in stand-alone drug plans needed to switch plans 56% of the time, and they are projected to save $776 on average ($441 median) in 2023. If they were new to our services, 67% of them switched drug plans to save $788 on average ($675 median). And those with the lowest incomes – saved the most!

Many of you may know us - Jacqueline and Richard Morgan - because of the business we ran in downtown Durham for 51 years - Morgan Imports. What you may not know is that prior to COVID, Morgan Imports hosted a festive holiday gathering in December to benefit Senior PharmAssist. We did this because Joe and Carlisle Harvard suggested it was a great organization that could help more people if it were better known. Our joint efforts were a lot of fun, with music and an auction. One of the Senior PharmAssist board members we met was a busy primary care doctor – Lisa Nadler.

We retired and COVID was lifting, so we began paying more attention to our personal finances. We called Senior PharmAssist to set up a Medicare counseling appointment after hearing endorsements from a few friends. Plus, one of us agreed to serve on Senior PharmAssist’s inaugural “Business Advisory Council” and felt we should know more about how Senior PharmAssist helps seniors. When we arrived for our appointment, our counselor was none other than the newly minted Medicare counselor and just retired – Dr. Lisa Nadler!

After this Medicare counseling session, we were even more enamored by the agency and Lisa. We not only switched drug plans, Medicare Plan D, which should save us each about $1,500 this year, but we also switched our Medicare supplement plans. We moved from a long-held F “Cadillac plan” that is no longer sold to new Medicare beneficiaries to a G supplement from another large insurer that new 65-year-olds can also purchase, which helps keep our premiums down. We expect to save $2,300 in 2023 on this supplement change.

Honestly, at first, we thought that there must be a hitch because the savings are so significant. We did our homework and with Senior PharmAssist’s help, we now feel like we have coverage that is essentially the same and really suits us well – at a much lower cost! On our own, it would have taken months to decide if we should make coverage changes and it likely would not have ever happened. They were so knowledgeable and were able to answer all our questions. They made it easy and quick.

We heartily agree with Senior PharmAssist’s tagline – “It pays to compare!” Via the agency’s association with the NC Department of Insurance, Senior PharmAssist offers this service free-of-charge to any Medicare beneficiary in Durham. There is no pressure to buy any specific product. We are proud of our association with the organization, and our decision in 2017 to help promote their work was a wise investment in our community.

On January 30, 2023, we lost a quiet but effective giant in public health in Durham and North Carolina – Dr. Howard Fitts, Jr. He was 101 years old and made all of his years count!

When I was hired by the Durham County Hospital Corporation to work with the Council for Senior Citizens (now called The Durham Center for Senior Life) for $1,000 in the summer of 1992, one of the first people I met was Dr. Fitts. I was trying to understand what might be done to help older adults in Durham struggling to pay for their medicines. There was no Medicare Part D drug benefit at that time, and Medicaid eligibility was even more strict than it is now!

Dr. Fitts suggested we meet at Lincoln Community Health Center, and the interview lasted for several hours. He wanted me to understand Lincoln’s rich history. We then decided to meet again – as we were just getting started! Since that time, I have relied on Dr. Fitts (he insisted I call him Howard) for wise counsel.

For those of you who didn’t know him, he was humble, very insightful, and always a wonderful cheerleader for Senior PharmAssist, and all things public health. His outreach led us to several key stakeholders – including understanding the sway of organized Black residents in Durham who worked together to create change via the Committee for the Affairs of Black People, the NAACP, and in other ways. I particularly remember a story about how John Wheeler (Durham’s downtown post office is named after him) helped force the creation of a neutral community hospital when Whites-only Watts and Lincoln Hospitals merged to create the Durham County Hospital Corporation.

Dr. Fitts also introduced us to his public health partner-in-crime Becky Bowden, who along with Ida Friday (long-time UNC system President Bill Friday’s wife) met with Dr. Fitts and others at NC Central after hours to plan public health campaigns across North Carolina. Their efforts served all people at a time when only Whites were admitted to UNC-Chapel Hill. He served as the first Professor and Chair of NCCU’s Department of Health Education from 1954 to 1987. Howard and Becky helped develop NC Citizens for Public Health to ensure there was a watchful citizen eye on community health in North Carolina that led to amazing interventions over the years.

See more about Dr. Fitts’ many professional accomplishments here. They say “people don’t remember what you say but how you make them feel,” and with Dr. Fitts – I mean Howard – he made so many people feel worthy. What a legacy.

Join us at the Durham Center for Senior Life for some snacks and to hear three professional speakers share anti-fraud tips, how to protect yourself from identity theft, and what to do if you have experienced any kind of fraud.

> Register by email now!