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ELMIRA (WENY) – Congressman Tom Reed held a press conference Tuesday highlighting the Medicare open enrollment period and the services that the department provides.
Almost 3.7 million New York residents are enrolled in Medicare in New York, a number that has drastically been growing since the pandemic started.
Reed said that the pandemic has forced many to retire early and the press conference that was held today was meant to inform individuals that the application period will be ending on December 7th.
“What we wanted to do here today is to come and raise awareness about this opportunity and this period of time in the calendar for seniors to reach out to the department of aging,” said Reed.
Beth Stranges, Director of the Chemung county of Public Aging and Long Term Care, said there is a lot of information out there and when deciding which medicare to choose it is important to get unbiased information from people who care; something she said her department aims to offer the community.
“We look out for our community’s best interest, we look to make sure that the plans that you are enrolling in for medicare are going to be affordable and also useful,” said Stranges.
The department of aging is seeing an increased number of calls so they ask that you remain patient and want the public to know that they are there to help in any way they can. With the increased number of calls, they are also looking for more volunteers.
“We are in desperate need of volunteers always at the Chemung County Department of Aging,” said Stranges. “ We really welcome anybody that would like to take a few hours of their time weekly if they can volunteer.”
The department can be contacted at this number: 607-737-5520
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