Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Deane Beebe
Communications Director
212-204-6219
Medicare Rights CenterAugust 31, 2005
Medicare Rights Center Wins Web Award -- World Wide Web Health Awards Names Medicare Rights Center Silver Medalist -- New York, NY – The Medicare Rights Center is the Silver medal award winner in the Spring/Summer 2005 Patient Education Information Web Site category, the World Wide Web Health Awards announced this past week.
Medicare Interactive (MI) weaves together national and state-specific information on health care - from the basics of Medicare to the details of the new Medicare drug benefit set to begin on January 1st.
MI guides people with all levels of health care expertise to clear answers on Medicare, state-specific coverage, case examples, frequently asked questions, and links to related sites. MI is updated daily to keep up with changes in Medicare, including the new drug benefit, as well as health care resources state-by-state.
"Navigating the health care maze has never been easy and the new Medicare drug benefit will confound people even more," said Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, a national consumer service group. "Many older adults and people with disabilities have trouble getting the health care they need because clear, meaningful answers to health care questions are hard to find. Too often they end up forgoing care or paying thousands of dollars for services they could have secured at low or no cost."'
Nationally available through the AARP website, at www.aarp.org/health/healthguide, Medicare Interactive provides users with MI Counselor to help look up Medicare information.
MI Counselor is basically the encyclopedia of Medicare, with a variety of search options. With this, consumers can search within broad topics, look up basic information, or even seek out specific terms. The web tool contains information on both federal and state-specific resources.