The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced today that the “Medicare & You” handbook is now available in Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese. The handbook is being released as part of this year’s Medicare Open Enrollment Period, which kicked off on October 15, 2021, and ends on December 7, 2021, and provides essential information on enrollment, program benefits, coverage options, and rights.
“Expanding the development of culturally appropriate, understandable materials in multiple languages is an important step toward health equity,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “Offering the ‘Medicare & You’ handbook in more languages helps people with Medicare to better understand how to navigate Medicare programs, access the benefits and care they need, and be able to guard against misinformation, fraud, and scams.”
The translated handbooks are now available to download at Medicare.gov or to order from 1-800-MEDICARE for free. CMS also publishes several other documents in 23 languages, including Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese, available at https://www.medicare.gov/about-us/information-in-other-languages. These documents focus on specific topics and provide detailed information about popular subjects like Medicare basics, preventive services, supplemental insurance, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Summary Notices, COVID-19 vaccine coverage, and more. Live assistance is also available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (except some federal holidays), both via Live Chat on Medicare.gov and by phone at 1-800-MEDICARE, which offers language interpreter services.
Press release – Chinese: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/traditional-chinese-press-release-medicare-you.pdf
Press release – Korean: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/korean-press-release-medicare-you.pdf
Press release – Vietnamese: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/vietnamese-press-release-medicare-you.pdf