ASK THE EXPERTS ABOUT
General LGBT Aging Issues


Q HIV and Seniors
  May 13, 2008

Are you aware AARP will NOT offer supplemental medical insurance to seniors with HIV? You should look into this before yo have AARP sponsor your events. Just this week we have 17 letters from AARP refusing to offer r\services to gay men with HIV. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is on this and the gay press around the country is currently receiving information on this.


A Response from Dr. Kooden

Well, you have raised a very important issue which needs to be clarified. Since all contracts have been signed, AARP will still be a cosponsor but this does not mean that this issue cannot be investigated. I am a senior who is HIV positive and and have the Medicare Advantage program with Oxford where Medicare pays the premium. There is no supplemental medical insurance in addition to this. I know that since Oxford was taken over by Secure Horizons and both are handled by AARP, the policy is consistent with what I had signed up for from the very beginning. There is no supplemental medical insurance available to me with AARP since they only have one company that they administer.

I shall bring this up as an issue to be dealt with at the conference as it is relevant to all seniors. I chair the SAGE Community Advisory Committee for the 2009 conference and will definitely propose that this issue be raised at the conference. It needs to be clarified so that information can be distributed at the conference or in a workshop. Members of the Task Force are on the conference program committee so I am sure this is being discussed already.

If you feel that more needs to be done, please contact me c/o SAGE.

Harold Kooden

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