During the 2019 Medicare Open Enrollment period, JABA’s Insurance Counseling Department help 3,302 people figure out what was the best 2020 Medicare Part D plan or Medicare Advantage plan for them. This was a 42% increase from last year.

Randy Rodgers, JABA’s Manager of Community Services, cites three main reasons for the increase.

“More people are volunteering in the program, which gives us more capacity,” he says. “Plus, the quality of the counseling over the last few years has developed a reputation in the community. Finally, because of generous donors, we have been able to spend more on advertising and getting the word out.”

What makes the JABA program unique, says Rodgers, is the personalized attention people feel they are getting. “What JABA offers is well trained volunteer who sits down in person with a client and walks them through a complicated process,” he says. “All for free.”

Even without continued advertising, Rodgers estimates that 750 more people could be seeking help during next year’s Open Enrollment period. But he says JABA is prepared.

“The facilities we have at the moment will handle that increase,” he says. “We had a very big class of new counselors this year. I think we will only need to increase the number of counselors by twenty-five to meet the increase this coming year.”

Key 2019 facts:

55% of clients needed to change plans for 2020. By doing this, they saved, on average, $1,073. The total amount we helped people save was $1,773,335.
This year we opened a second office to see more clients. During OE, 1,498 people were helped at the new office on Allied Street in Charlottesville.
We increased the number of times we sent the Mobile Unit out to 35 days. We were able to help 585 people at the various Mobile Unit sites in mostly rural areas.
We greatly increased the number of volunteers helping this year. (Counselors, Admins, and Greeters)
The biggest obstacle we faced was the introduction of a brand new Medicare website just weeks before OE. It was impossible to train our volunteer counselors properly before the beginning of OE. We had to learn on the fly. Plus, the new website had many problems and glitches.

Need help with your Medicare insurance plan?

Call 434.817.5248 or email insurance@jabacares.org

Would you like to be a Insurance Counseling program volunteer?

Go here to learn more. Or call 434.817.5226

Media Contact:

Randy Rodgers
JABA Manager of Community Services
434.817.5239
rrodgers@jabacares.org