Josephine Kamara pulled a tattered manila envelope out of her shoulder bag Wednesday morning, placed it on the desk in front of her and extracted from it a fistful of letters and plastic health care cards. The 68-year-old Alexandria nurses’ assistant topped the pile off with her red, white and blue Medicare card from her wallet.
“So much paperwork,” Kamara lamented. “So here I am wondering what to do.”
Kamara had come to Merry Dawson Bown for help sorting through what appeared to be two separate enrollment packages for prescription coverage under the Medicare Part D plan.
“I just want to get it right before the deadline on the 15th,” Kamara told Dawson Bown.
Since January, Dawson Bown has helped enroll dozens of seniors in prescription plans through Alexandria’s Department of Human Services.
Dawson Bown rechecked Kamara’s situation and found the government had randomly assigned the woman to an Aetna plan. Confused, Kamara called a counselor in Alexandria, who then enrolled her with WellCare. A year’s worth of Kamara’s three medications would cost the woman $72 with Aetna. With WellCare and additional government assistance, Dawson Bown explained, Kamara would paynothing.
“This is good news,” Dawson Bown, said confirming Kamara’s WellCare enrollment. “This is good news.”
Kamara was already busy collecting her paperwork and repacking her bags.
“OK,” Kamara said, packing away her three medicine bottles. “Thank you.”
