IV Post

Washington, DC - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today launched Ask Medicare, a new initiative to help family caregivers, those who are family members or friends who help people with Medicare - access and use valuable healthcare information, services and resources.

More than 44 million Americans, more than one in five adults, provide care to a loved one, friend or neighbor, valued in economic terms at $350 billion annually, according to a recent report by AARP.  The new initiative  will provide  a  one-stop  Web page for caregivers (www.medicare.gov/caregivers) that provides easy access to useful information about Medicare and other essential resources to help with caregiving.

“Caregivers are often overwhelmed and as part of this new education effort called Ask Medicare will bea single, go-to place for help and information,” said Kerry Weems, CMS acting administrator. “There is a genuine need for credible and easy to use information that provides answers to a wide range of questions toward helping beneficiaries make better use of Medicare. The Ask Medicare Web site was designed with family caregivers in mind.”

The CMS, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), launched the new caregiver initiative through a live Webcast hosted by Acting Administrator Weems. During the live online forum, national partner organizations, including HHS’ Administration on Aging, AARP, and the National Alliance for Caregiving, joined CMS in answering questions from caregivers.

Information to Help You Care for Others - Most caregivers do not think of or identify themselves as caregivers; yet, so many of the resources available to them use that term. “If a person helping someone on Medicare does not relate to the term ‘caregiver,’ they may miss a lot of resources,” said Weems.

Many family caregivers see their roles of providing help or service to someone they care about as simply “the right thing to do” because the person is a family member or a friend. Family caregivers provide help that includes: