Community Educators Discuss Medicare and Social Security

Phoenix retiree Diane Sanders, 64, was in the health insurance claims business for 40 years but always wanted to teach. In a way, she's making that wish come true. Her "students" are often her age or older, but Sanders is living her dream — as a volunteer educator for AARP Arizona.

And there's another payoff for Sanders: During a training class on Medicare plan choices, she realized that the information she provides to others will be beneficial when it's time to make her own Medicare choices.

"The complexities of health and retirement programs are easier to understand if you hear them from someone who knows how to talk to you," said another volunteer, Carl Erickson, 63, of Litchfield Park.

That's the idea behind the new AARP Arizona Community Educators Program, which has about 80 trained speakers like Sanders and Erickson.

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Volunteers speak throughout the state at service and social clubs, community organizations, colleges, churches, retirement communities and other gathering places, said David Parra, AARP Arizona associate state director for multicultural outreach and organizer of the program.

The volunteers go to where older people gather and where they are relaxed. Each session includes time for the audience members to ask questions about Medicare, Social Security and the new health care law.

For instance, a presentation on Medicare explains the differences among Parts A, B, C and D and the differences between the traditional Medicare program and Medicare Advantage (Part C).

The presenters discuss the coverage and copayments under each plan but don't recommend one over the others.

Erickson, a retired J.C. Penney store manager, said his niche is talking to businesspeople. He recently spoke to groups of financial planners and to nursing home and assisted living managers.

"Medicare is as much a financial issue as a medical issue," he told them, and Erickson believes he got their attention.

"The people who are working with retiring baby boomers want to know all the elements of it, so they can provide a high level of help when they need it," he said.

Erickson doesn't see himself as an expert but as a knowledgeable friend. "There are things I don't know, and I admit it. I do have a lot of websites that I can refer them to for answers."

John Putzear, 68, has hosted a half-dozen wine-and-cheese sessions on Medicare at his Glendale home this year. Attendees are mostly from his circle of gay and lesbian friends.