A digital divide in the COVID-19 pandemic: information exchange among older Medicare beneficiaries and stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented challenges for older adults. Medicare enrollment was already an overwhelming process for a high fraction of older adults pre-pandemic. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to gain understanding from community organizations and stakeholders about their pre-pandemic and during-pandemic experiences while adapting to continue offering insurance advice to seniors, what resources are available to seniors, and what needs to be done to help seniors make higher quality insurance choices in the Medicare program. In addition, we wanted to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic may have changed the ways that these stakeholders interacted with Medicare beneficiaries.

Methods

We employed a qualitative strategy to gain a

SUBMITTER: Castillo A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9836741 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature