The hour of prep that makes Medicare open enrollment simple, and the list you will be grateful for if she ever ends up in an emergency room.
You can’t pick the right Medicare plan for her without knowing what she actually takes, and almost nobody knows what their mother actually takes.
Open enrollment opens a week from Wednesday. Before it does, go over there with a notepad and empty the medicine cabinet onto the kitchen table. All of it. The nightstand bottles too, and whatever’s in her purse.
Write down the real name of each drug, the real dose, and how many times a day. Not what she tells you. What the label says. Families discover things at this table every October. The prescription she stopped filling in June because the copay went up and she didn’t want to mention it. The two bottles of the same medication from two different doctors. The one she’s been cutting in half to make last.
While you’re there, write down her doctors. Every one, including the specialist she sees twice a year and forgets about.
That list is the whole job. Once you have it, comparing plans takes an evening instead of a weekend, and you’ll actually be comparing the right thing, which is whether next year’s plan covers her drugs and her doctors at a price she can carry.
One more reason to do this now, in October, when nothing is on fire. If she ever ends up in an emergency room at Riverview at two in the morning, that same list is the first thing they will ask you for, and you will not want to be reading labels over the phone from a hospital hallway.
Take a photo of the list. Text it to your brother. Keep it on your phone.
If you can’t get over there, this is a normal thing for us to help with. A caregiver who’s there a few hours a week ends up knowing that medicine cabinet better than anyone.
Go this weekend. It’s one hour.
Seniors Helping Seniors® Jersey Shore North Home care, respite, personal care, and transportation in Monmouth, Middlesex, and Ocean Counties, NJ. www.JSNorthSHS.com | info@JSNorthSHS.com | 732-385-8805