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Building a Community Coalition to Increase the Health Insurance Literacy of Medicare Beneficiaries
Beeler, Rebecca S.
Beeler, Rebecca S.
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Abstract
Empirical studies and anecdotal reports from clients and hospital social workers suggest that many Medicare beneficiaries find the Medicare policy selection process to be confusing, resulting in a reliance on uninformed or untrustworthy sources when choosing coverage during open enrollment periods. This Capstone Project addresses the problem of low health insurance literacy of Medicare beneficiaries through the development of a community coalition to educate members of the community facing Medicare plan selection decisions. A review of the literature indicates that a lack of knowledge about plan options can lead to plan dissatisfaction, plan switching, and undesirable health outcomes due to barriers in access to care found in some Medicare plans. This project uses Community Coalition Action Theory (CCAT) as a conceptual
foundation for developing coalitions seeking to provide education to Medicare beneficiaries about Medicare plans, coverage, and benefits and to empower beneficiaries to identify and avoid unethical practices leveraged by some insurance brokers. Educational interventions can be developed using information from reliable public resources and then adapted with respect to the community context unique to every coalition. The Capstone Report is accompanied by an easy
to-follow guide to coalition building employing the 14 constructs of CCAT as applied across five stages of development. The guide is presented to assist citizens who wish to join together and help to improve the health insurance literacy of Medicare beneficiaries who live in local communities.
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Date
2025-08-31
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University of Kansas
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Keywords
Social work, Health education, Health care management, Community Coalition, Community Coalition Action Theory, Health insurance literacy, Health literacy, Medicare