MMAP (Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program) is a free, health-benefits counseling service for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and their families or caregivers. MMAP’s mission is to educate, advocate, counsel and empower people to make informed benefit decisions. On the national level, these programs are called State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIP). MMAP is Michigan’s SHIP.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Medicare is a federal health insurance program for people 65 or older and some disabled people under 65 who have received benefits for at least 24 months.

Medicaid is a federal and state program, governed by the individual states. For adults without minor children, a person must be 65 or older, blind, disabled or be receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.

Medicare Part A is hospital insurance that helps pay for inpatient hospital care, limited care in a skilled nursing facility, home health care and hospice care. Medicare Part B is medical insurance that helps pay for physician services, outpatient hospital services, durable medical equipment and home health care (if not covered by Part A).

Medicare Part D offers prescription drug coverage to everyone with Medicare. If you decide not to join a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan when you’re first eligible, and you don’t have other creditable prescription drug coverage, or you don’t get Extra Help, you’ll likely pay a late enrollment penalty. To get MedicarePart D drug coverage, you must join a plan run by an insurance company or other private company approved by Medicare. Each plan can vary in cost and drugs covered.

MMAP can help you find answers to important questions you have on Medicare Parts A, B, and D, Medicare supplemental insurance, long-term care insurance, Medicaid, and other health insurance issues.

The Medicare Open Enrollment period is the time frame that qualifying persons for Medicare can enroll in a plan (if they are first-time enrollees), or re-enroll, either in their current plan, or in a new plan.

This year’s Medicare Part D Open Enrollment runs from October 15, 2023, to December 7, 2023.

Please visit the medicare.gov website, or phone our Advocacy Department at (989) 732-9977 to schedule an appointment with one of our MMAP counselors.

Please call our Advocacy Department at (989) 732-9977 for the most current information.

 

MMAP Department Staff

Jacob Rossow – Advocacy Department Coordinator/MMAP Specialist
Charles May – Advocacy/MMAP Specialist
Theresa Ross – Advocacy Department Office Manager/MMAP Specialist

 

Links

Medicare
1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) TTY 1-877-486-2048

Medicare for Caregivers
National Institute for Health

Social Security Benefits
1-800-772-1213 TTY 1-800-325-0778

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word,
a listening ear, an honest compliment or the smallest act of caring,
all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
~Leo Buscaglia~