Category Archives: Medicare

Medicare Open Enrollment – Important Updates

November 25, 2025

CCHCC has important updates for anyone who is looking for help with Medicare Open Enrollment. The last day of Medicare Open Enrollment is December 7, 2025.

No more appointments are available with CCHCC or other SHIP sites – What you need to do instead:

SHIP stands for State Health Insurance (Assistance) Program. CCHCC is one of two SHIP organizations in Champaign County, and both are totally full and have no more appointments available this year.

For those who are still needing help with Medicare Open Enrollment, we are now recommending that you call the Medicare Helpline at 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) / TTY 1-877-486-2048.

We are disheartened to have to be turning community members away due to lack of appointment availability and we continue to strive to help every person we possibly can. Please see below for important information.

If you end up in an Advantage plan that does not work for you, you CAN change plans!

Here is a little known fact: Anyone who ends up in a Medicare Advantage plan that does not work for them, has the option to switch advantage plans during the “Annual Enrollment Period” from January 1 to March 31.

To anyone who wasn’t able to obtain an appointment with CCHCC or another SHIP counselor this year, and to anyone who is generally nervous or uncertain of your decision: Please don’t hesitate to call us at the first of the year in 2026 to review your plan and double-check that it’s the one you that will work for you. Our community is going through a huge shift next year, and it can be nerve-wracking to switch insurance companies. We are more than happy to look over your decision during the Annual Enrollment Period and help you obtain some peace of mind.

Regarding Health Alliance Medicare Advantage plan members:
We have received several inquiries about the time you have available to choose a new plan for 2026 if you are a current Health Alliance Medicare Advantage plan member.

There are some special circumstances that apply to Health Alliance Medicare Advantage Plan members, since Health Alliance is going away.

READ ON!

CCHCC featured in KFF article on Medicare Advantage plans

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November 20, 2025

Susan Jaffe from KFF Health News just published an article today titled “Complaints About Gaps in Medicare Advantage Networks Are Common. Federal Enforcement Is Rare”.

The article features CCHCC (along with other organizations in other parts of the country) and a situation that happened in 2016 involving WellCare and their failure to maintain an adequate network when Christie Clinic left the plan’s network.

CCHCC’s Executive Director, Claudia Lennhoff, is quoted in the article.

Here is the article:
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/medicare-advantage-insurance-network-adequacy-standards-cms-federal-enforcement/

CCHCC continues to monitor network issues involving Medicare Advantage plans offered locally.

Medicare Advantage (and Part D) Open Enrollment ends on December 7, 2025.

If you would like to make a contribution to CCHCC, you do it online here:

Support CCHCC!

As always, thank you for your support!

Sincerely,
Champaign County Health Care Consumers

Medicare Open Enrollment Meeting – tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.!

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October 14, 2025

Tomorrow morning – Wednesday, October 15 – CCHCC will be holding our annual Medicare Open Enrollment Community Meeting at 10 a.m. at the Champaign Public Library.

Please join us!

The meeting is open to anyone who has Medicare or who will soon be eligible to start receiving Medicare.

Our presenter is Nicole Mitchell, who is CCHCC’s Senior Services Specialist.

Nicole will provide information about the basics of Medicare, and Medicare Open Enrollment. And there will be a Q & A session.

Here are the basics about tomorrow’s meeting:

WHAT: Medicare Open Enrollment Community Meeting

WHEN: Wednesday, October 15, 2025 at 10 a.m.

WHERE: Champaign Public Library / 200 W. Green Street in Champaign / Robeson Pavilion Room A & B

AMENITIES: Free parking / refreshments
Please note that Medicare Open Enrollment takes place from October 15 through December 7, 2025 for Medicare Advantage and Part D plans for 2026.

Please help spread the word to publicize these events!

Sincerely,
Champaign County Health Care Consumers

OBBA Cuts and Open Enrollment: CCHCC is your trusted source for information

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September 8, 2025

On July 4, 2025, Donald Trump signed the cartoonishly-named “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBA) into law. This budget bill creates a massive regressive transfer of wealth through its harmful provisions – these provisions impose massive cuts to programs that benefit lower- and middle-income individuals in order to fund tax cuts to the wealthiest families and corporations.

Some of the harmful cuts from OBBA are already beginning and will soon be affecting individuals and families who depend on programs such as SNAP (food stamps) and subsidies in the ACA Marketplace. The harmful impacts of OBBA will take place over a period of months and years.

Thanks to OBBA, the largest cut in the history of SNAP – the food stamp program that millions of individuals and families depend on to meet their nutritional needs – began on Monday, September 1, 2025. It is estimated that 2.4 million households will lose their SNAP benefits all together. And it is estimated that households across the U.S. who retain their SNAP benefits will lose anywhere from $72 to $231 per month, compared to their current benefit level.

You can count on Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) to provide you with the information you need, as these changes unfold and impact our community.

Many of these changes are starting to take place and will also have impacts on households as we head into Open Enrollment season for Medicare and the ACA Marketplace.

CCHCC is planning three Community Meetings for September and October – one to provide information on OBBA and the cuts that are coming; and two for Open Enrollments (Medicare and Marketplace).

Please mark your calendars and save these dates! And please note that all three of these Community Meetings will be held at the Champaign Public Library at 200 W. Green Street in Champaign.

READ ON!

Save these dates for Community Meetings on OBBA and Open Enrollment

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August 21, 2025

Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) is preparing for a busy fall. We will be hosting a community meeting to help explain the provisions of the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, which included massive spending cuts to healthcare and food programs, among other programs that people rely on.

Additionally, we are also preparing for Open Enrollment for both Medicare and the Marketplace, so we will be holding meetings on those topics and explaining any changes to these programs for 2026.

All events listed below will be held at the Champaign Public Library at 200 W. Green Street, in Champaign.

Please mark your calendars and save these dates:

Community Meeting on OBBA – Thursday, Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. at the Champaign Public Library. This meeting will be open to the public. The purpose of the meeting will be to provide information about the budget bill passed by the Senate and the House, and signed into law on July 4, 2025. This budget bill slashes funding to many important health, food, and housing programs. We will provide information about the cuts to vital programs, why the cuts were made, when those cuts are expected to take effect, how they will impact our community, and what our community can do to mitigate the harmful impacts of these budget cuts.