Episode 366: Medicare and MS -- Getting Your Ducks In a Row with Laquel Thomas

Most of us know Medicare as health insurance for Americans who are 65 or older, but when they qualify for Social Security disability benefits, people younger than 65 automatically qualify for Medicare. Today, between 25 and 30% of the people living with MS are Medicare beneficiaries. Whether you already have Medicare or you'll be signing up for Medicare in the future, getting the right coverage requires making some important choices.  Licensed Medicare Advisor Laquel Thomas joins me with tips, strategies, and explanations for successfully navigating Medicare and getting the coverage you need. We're explaining the good news in the results from a Phase 3 clinical trial for Tolebrutinib, Sanofi's experimental oral BTK inhibitor. The trial showed that, compared to placebo, Tolebrutinib met the primary endpoint, delaying the onset of confirmed disability progression in people with non-relapsing secondary progressive MS. Take My Hand is an Australian film based on the true story of Claire Jensz, a mother of three living in London who is diagnosed with MS at the peak of her high-powered career. Be sure to catch my conversation with Claire, Radha Mitchell, the film's star, and John Raftopoulos, the film's director. We're sharing the details of a study that may have uncovered an underlying cause of MS and, perhaps, all autoimmune diseases. We'll tell you about the results of a stem cell study that show MS may involve more than just immune cells.  And we'll give you what may be surprising details of a study that focused on how MS impacts the quality of life of fully ambulatory people living with mild MS symptoms. We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS??! This Week: Making the right Medicare choices  :22 There's good news about the results of the Phase 3 clinical trial for Tolebrutinib  1:41 My conversation with the director, star, and woman whose story about living with MS is the real-life basis for the new film, Take My Hand    4:28 Have researchers at Yale discovered an underlying cause of MS?  14:11 Newly published results of a stem cell study show that MS may also be driven by brain cells  17:19 Study results show how MS impacts the quality of life among fully ambulatory people with mild MS symptoms  19:15 Licensed Medicare Advisor, Laquel Thomas, explains all the variables you want to consider in making choices about your Medicare coverage  22:12 Share this episode  33:40 Have you downloaded the free RealTalk MS app?  34:01 SHARE THIS EPISODE OF REALTALK MS Just copy this link & paste it into your text or email: https://realtalkms.com/366 ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE CONVERSATION I've always thought about the RealTalk MS podcast as a conversation. And this is your opportunity to join the conversation by sharing your feedback, questions, and suggestions for topics that we can discuss in future podcast episodes. Please shoot me an email or call the RealTalk MS Listener Hotline and share your thoughts! Email: [email protected] Phone: (310) 526-2283 And don't forget to join us in the RealTalk MS Facebook group! LINKS If your podcast app doesn't allow you to click on these links, you'll find them in the show notes in the RealTalk MS app or at www.RealTalkMS.com TRAILER: Take My Hand https://youtu.be/PdNMb7-AeEs STUDY: An Autoimmune Transcriptional Circuit Drives FOXP3+ Regulatory T-Cell Dysfunction https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.adp1720 STUDY: Patient iPSC Models Reveal Glia-Intrinsic Phenotypes in Multiple Sclerosis https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1934590924002881 STUDY: Determinants of Self-Perceived Quality of Life in Mildly Disabled Multiple Sclerosis Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38526763 Join the RealTalk MS Facebook Group https://facebook.com/groups/realtalkms Download the RealTalk MS App for iOS Devices https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/realtalk-ms/id1436917200 Download the RealTalk MS App for Android Deviceshttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tv.wizzard.android.realtalk Give RealTalk MS a rating and review http://www.realtalkms.com/review Follow RealTalk MS on Twitter, @RealTalkMS_jon, and subscribe to our newsletter at our website, RealTalkMS.com. RealTalk MS Episode 366 Guest: Claire Jensz, John Raftopolous, Radha Mitchell, Laquel Thomas Privacy Policy