Many Senior Citizens and older Americans care concerned and confused about how and if the [1] Health Care changes will affect their care and their access to it.

However, there are changes senior citizens should be aware of, as there are two main upgrades to the quality and cost of care that seniors can look forward to, and that is Wellness and Prevention Services.

Many preventive services will be free for those who receive Medicare, that is from annual checkups to cancer screenings.   Co-pays or deductibles will not be required. They will have access to comprehensive health risk assessment and free personalised prevention plan to help them and their doctors continue to focus on wellness instead of only illness.

Over the five years it will take to implement healthcare reform, the gap in the coverage of drugs for Medicare patients will close.   Over the next several years, seniors will be responsible for less and less of the cost of their drugs, depending on their income levels.

Private insurers were paid by the U S government to manage Medicare programs on the government`s behalf, prior to the healthcare reform law.  These insurers would be paid for the service, and the insurers would turn around and offer additional services to seniors who qualified for Medicare Programs.   A large amount of money was used  to pay these private insurers extra money such as bonuses for managing the programs and in turn, the private insurers would provide extra services like dental or vision coverage.

As they are private companies, each one will react differently to the changes in reimbursements from the government, but no changes will be made by law through to the end of 2010.  The cost of premiums will go up for the 2011 coverage year.

Medicare Advantage programs are private programs that have been subsidised, with bonuses, by the government, which means that those private companies who offered them got extra money from the government.

The healthcare reform law will shift the bonus money to the doctors and surgeons who practice in rural areas, so providing them with increased reimbursements for treating seniors.

[2] Meals on Wheels is a non profit organization providing food to poor people, old people and children and provides assistance where it is most needed.

[3] www.mowglobal.org