Finding the right
Medicare plan can be a confusing, time-consuming and stressful experience. However,
Allsup Medicare Advisor® makes it easy to choose the most affordable Medicare option based on an individual’s specific healthcare needs and preferences. Through Allsup, James Anderson was able to obtain his Social Security Disability Insurance benefits and decide upon the correct Medicare plan for his medical care and prescription drug coverage. Read how Allsup gave Mr. Anderson
True Help®.
*This is a true story as told to Allsup.
Severe back pain ended James Anderson’s career and deflated his spirits, but things looked up finally when he found professional help for both Social Security disability and Medicare. Working with Allsup, he said, was like...
‘A Breath of Fresh Air’
by Douglas J. Gillert
Pearland, Texas—Oh, his aching back.
As a printing press operator for 25 years, James Anderson suffered his share of back pain. But he kept working and avidly pursued recreational sports.
What bothers him now is not the fact he can no longer work—he also can no longer play.
For much of his life, Mr. Anderson’s playmates were his siblings—four boys and four girls. When his work took him to Hawaii, he swam and boogie-boarded in the ocean. He especially enjoyed visits by his daughter from California. Eventually, he returned to California where his daughter now teaches at California State University in Fullerton.
He continued working as a print press operator, but there were accidents that required medical treatment and days of heavy labor that took their toll. Mr. Anderson toughed it out, almost never missing a day of work, relying instead on physical therapy and medication to help him resist his growing back pains.
“I dealt with the pain as best I could, but after a while, I could do little more than go to work, go for medical treatments and stay home,” said Mr. Anderson, now 57. One more accident occurred that ended his working days for good in March 2009. After examining him, the company doctor told him frankly, “You’re not going back.”
Diagnosed with lumbar degeneration, lumbar radiculitis, (an inflammation of a nerve root in the lower spine), high blood pressure and depression, Mr. Anderson found it increasingly painful to do much other than make his doctor’s appointments. He felt listless and sad. “I became almost a recluse,” he said.
Forced into early retirement, Mr. Anderson began filling out paperwork to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). He sought help from Allsup.
Allsup is a nationwide provider of Social Security disability, Medicare and Medicare Secondary Payer compliance services for individuals, employers and insurance carriers. Founded in 1984, Allsup employs nearly 800 professionals who deliver specialized services supporting people with disabilities and seniors so they may lead lives that are as financially secure and as healthy as possible. The company is based in Belleville, Ill., near St. Louis.
Allsup helped. In less than a year, he began receiving monthly SSDI payments. While he waited to become Medicare-eligible—two years after his SSDI cash benefits started—he began to climb out of the fog of depression thanks to counseling and pain management. He felt strong enough to travel to Oregon for a family reunion in June 2011.
Seeing his family—particularly his brothers whom he’d cavorted with over the years—brought home to him once more the significance of his disability, but now he felt he was on the right track and even prepared to move from his home in Arrowhead, Calif., to Pearland, a community of about 60,000 snuggled between Houston and Galveston Bay. Thanks to the help he received from Allsup, he said, things were looking up. Calling Allsup was like “a breath of fresh air.”
Allsup Medicare Advisor® representative Christine VanLith explained how Allsup could help him choose the right Medicare coverage, particularly helpful as he transitioned from California to his new home in Texas.
“I can’t emphasize enough how pleasurable it was to work with Allsup,” Mr. Anderson said. “I never had one negative experience with them. Through Allsup, I got the Medicare plans I need.” Allsup researched and recommended the best plans to suit his needs both for medical care and prescription drug coverage. To have Medicare now, he said, is a blessing.
“I lived nearly three years without health insurance, but thanks to Allsup, not only am I earning
SSDI benefits, but I have Medicare,” Mr. Anderson said. “I own a fifth-wheeler and ran into someone selling a late model heavy-duty pickup truck with only 70,000 miles on it. In Texas, my wife and I met some folks with space on their large property and allow us to park there. We’re living in the trailer and it’s great.
“I am a man of faith, and God just kept opening doors for me.”