By: Susan Gaffney, Executive Vice President  

I’ve spent the past 15 years living as a poster child for the sandwich generation. My children were born just as my parents were becoming increasingly incapacitated by age and chronic disease. I was checking out assisted living facilities while baby-wearing a newborn and my double stroller had to squeeze in my minivan trunk with a walker and a wheelchair. Saying that my hands were full in those days would be an understatement. 

Unfortunately, both of my parents succumbed to their health issues in the last few years, just as my babies were becoming teenagers. My hands are less full, though my heart is heavier. As I reflect on what it took for my siblings and I to act as family caregivers, I think about how hard it was to navigate the health system and make sure that our parents were able to get the care they deserved. 

That’s one reason why I’m proud of the work the National Health Council (NHC) is doing to help Medicare beneficiaries and their family caregivers navigate the big, new changes in Medicare for 2025. The patient community and our allies have fought hard to realize improvements to the Medicare system, and the $2000 out of pocket cap and the opportunity to spread prescription costs across the year are very tangible changes that can help beneficiaries with access to affordable medications.  

The campaign we have developed to help get the word out is critical in making sure that those who can benefit know about the changes. We don’t want these benefits to be a “best kept secret,” and we want people to understand how to best leverage these changes to access affordable care.  There are not enough resources to make life easier for patients and caregivers, and these tools should do just that. 

Some of the changes to Medicare coming in 2025, like the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan and the Extra Help Program, require people to enroll. To help beneficiaries and their families determine if these programs are right for them, the NHC has created an interactive website as one of our tools. Users can answer a short set of questions to learn more about what Medicare programs would be the most beneficial and how to enroll in the correct programs.  

Please join the NHC in promoting our campaign and the resources of other NHC member organizations so that families like mine get a little bit of extra help to make tough times and topics easier.