Purpose Prize

Marc Freedman Portrait

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Lasting Impact

Lasting Impact

CoGenerate Co-CEO Marc Freedman’s most recent book, How to Live Forever, was published by Hachette/Public Affairs in 2018, generating a lot of great attention. And it’s not over yet! Every week, the New York Times Sunday Opinion section includes a print-only feature...

Check Out Our Signature Event On Cogenerational Activism!

Check Out Our Signature Event On Cogenerational Activism!

On May 22, more than 1,100 people registered to learn more about the important cogenerational work our 2023 Innovation Fellows are doing. These 15 leaders are bringing generations together to solve problems and bridge divides. And each one has a unique and inspiring...

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Lois Steinberg

SOS Medicare
Purpose Prize Fellow 2006

Mobilizing older adults to provide health care benefits counseling and information

As a sociologist, Lois Steinberg, 79, did research on school advocacy groups in the 1960s, and discovered that parents had to organize underground networks in order to get schools to address their children’s needs. While earning a master’s degree in health advocacy in her 70s, Steinberg began to suspect that peer networks might also be an efficient way to tackle health illiteracy among older people. So in 2001, she created SOS Medicare (Seniors Speaking Out) with the Medicare Rights Center. The goal: to mobilize older volunteers in Westchester County, New York to provide health care counseling and information on their health rights and benefits to middle- and lower-income older adults in senior centers, clubs, and religious institutions. The organization’s outreach expanded when the Medicare Prescription Drug benefit was introduced in 2006. SOS volunteers now present forums on the subject and offer one-on-one counseling to help people select a prescription drug plan. Steinberg’s next undertaking is to develop a program to provide assertiveness training and advocacy tools to older adults and their adult children, so that they can be advocates for their own health care, and for those they care about.