Federal Medicare outreach grants send $174,880 to 10 Alaska tribal elder programs

Ten organizations will share $174,880 in federal money to help Alaska Native elders work out Medicare, in communities running from Point Hope down to Ninilchik.

The work is outreach, counseling and sitting with someone through enrollment. Counselors walk elders through the Low-Income Subsidy, better known as Extra Help, which cuts prescription drug costs for people with limited income, along with the Medicare Savings Program, Part D and preventive screenings. Federal guidance sets the floor at "at least one community announcement and one community outreach event" per grant, which is roughly what the smallest of these awards buys.

The awards run from $7,750 to $18,940 and are formula grants rather than competitive ones, which is why the same figures repeat across the list. Dena Nena Henash in Fairbanks drew the most, $45,190 across five awards, and Kodiak Area Native Association took $25,350 across three. The Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, Bristol Bay Native Association and Chickaloon Native Village each received $18,940. Arctic Slope Native Association in Utqiaġvik received $14,420. Denakkanaaga and Ninilchik Village each received $8,800, and the Native Village of Point Hope and Seldovia Village Tribe each received $7,750.

That geography is the point of the program. Enrollment help is easy to find in a city and hard to find at the end of a runway, and these are Title VI aging programs, built to reach elders in rural and tribal communities.

The grants run from Sept. 1 through Aug. 31, 2027. According to the National Council on Aging, an omnibus package earlier this year extended the underlying program through 2027 at $50 million a year nationally.