People on Medicare can make changes to their health insurance during Open Enrollment, which begins October 15th and runs through December 7th. The Westchester Library System is here to help, with its free live workshops and online version.
“Demystifying Medicare” is for anyone who needs to understand how Medicare works. It’s not only for people who are considering changes to their current coverage, but for those who are soon to be Medicare-eligible, approaching retirement, or helping relatives or friends with their medical decisions and paperwork.
All the currently scheduled in-person events are listed at the bottom of the library’s webpage https://wikis.westchesterlibraries.org/sbic/demystifying-medicare/. There you can also access the online version and work through this complicated subject at your own pace, beginning with a 5-minute video on how to get the best out of the audio chapters, displays and handouts that match the ones used in the live workshops.
A complete understanding of the whole system is key to making the best personal health coverage choices. Topics include Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage Plans, prescription drug plans, Medigaps (supplemental plans), EPIC, and cost-saving programs for people with limited resources. There’s also a new .pdf on “Medicare and COVID,” which outlines the relaxation of some of Medicare’s rules during the public health emergency.
In a non-COVID universe, WLS works year-round in other ways to help people understand Medicare and the health insurance industry. It runs free Senior Benefits Individual Counseling centers (SBICs) at the John C. Hart and Will libraries (in Shrub Oak and Yonkers) throughout the year, where people can get answers to their coverage and billing questions on a first-come, first-served basis. The volunteers in this program have been trained and updated monthly with materials from the Medicare Rights Center, a NYC advocacy group not affiliated with the insurance companies or with Medicare itself. For individual help, you can call the SBIC helpline at (914) 231-3260 or email them at SBIC@wlsmail.org. Like the workshops, the counseling is also free.
To sign up for live workshops, please leave your name and number at (914) 231-3236 or email SBICmedia@gmail.com. (But please call the venue before attending to make sure COVID restrictions have not again caused cancellation this season.) And to explore the library’s full range of informational services for seniors, please visit https://seniors.westchesterlibraries.org/senior-benefits/.
“Once again, this year’s goal is to tie our communities together in support of anyone affected by any type of cancer, regardless of age or gender. All proceeds from the campaign benefit SOUL RYEDERS’ community-oriented, cancer-related programs and services. The secondary goal of this campaign is to emphasize the importance of annual cancer screenings. Because of the pandemic, many of us continue to cancel or delay essential annual medical check-ups, mammograms, skin cancer and other screenings. SOUL RYEDERS wants to encourage our community to make these appointments now for their own health and well-being.
SOUL RYEDERS announced new ribbons this year! “Our new ribbons are made from 100% natural burlap material, are environmentally friendly and have been handmade in Wisconsin.”
Andrew Greenspan is a native New Yorker who has resided in Westchester for nearly his entire life. He is a graduate of Scarsdale High School, has a Bachelor of Arts from Hamilton College, and a Master of Science from the Sloan School of Business at MIT. In 1999, he founded GHP Office Realty with James J. Houlihan. As Principal of GHP, he manages the daily operations of the White Plains based company, which began by acquiring and operating individual multi-tenanted suburban New York office buildings. The partners presently own and manage buildings in Westchester, Rockland, Fairfield, and Bergen Counties.
Designed by celebrated architect Thomas Lamb in 1926 and listed in The National Register of Historic Places, The Capitol Theatre is located 30 miles from NYC. The 2,000-capacity theater, known as “the original rock palace,” showcased legends such as Traffic, The Grateful Dead, Black Sabbath, Chuck Berry, David Bowie, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, and The Rolling Stones.
and safety protocols are 
Mark your calendars: The annual New Castle Community Day, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Chappaqua in cooperation with the Town of New Castle, will be held Saturday, September 18, 2021 at the downtown Chappaqua Train Station Plaza from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.