About

The Illinois Department on Aging is bringing you the experience and expertise of the Medicare Rights Center to ensure Illinois residents get the answers they need to access health care and other public benefits.

Illinois Benefits is a suite of web-based tools designed to:

• Inform consumers and the professionals of federal and state prescription drug benefits, rights and options; and
• Facilitate enrollment in assistance programs available to Illinois residents.

Medicare Rights Center – Medicare Interactive Counselor and MI University

The Medicare Rights Center (MRC) is the nation’s largest independent source of health care information and assistance for people with Medicare. A national non-profit founded in 1989, MRC helps older adults and people with disabilities access good, affordable health care.

MRC developed Medicare Interactive (MI) to address the growing need for easy-to-understand and easy-to-navigate web-based health care information. The site is designed to help people with all levels of Medicare knowledge and all levels of computer savvy find answers to their questions about health care benefits, rights and options for people with Medicare. MI integrates information on state and federal benefits to ensure Illinois residents understand the range of options available to them in their state. The site includes:

• MI Counselor, which provides answers to hundreds questions about health care benefits, rights and options for people with Medicare. MI Counselor uses scripts, case examples and FAQs to guide users to easy-to-understand information on what Medicare covers, how it coordinates with other forms of insurance, options for filling gaps in Medicare coverage, extra assistance for people with low incomes, and prescription drug programs.
• MI University (available in the professional section of this website), a multimedia training and presentation tool that helps people get an in-depth understanding of the health care benefits, rights and options for older adults and people with disabilities, and equips them to go out into the community and train others.