Medicare Advantage plans send pals to seniors’ homes for companionship — and profits

Widowed and usually living alone, Gloria Bailey walks with a cane after two knee replacement surgeries and needs help with housekeeping.

So she was thrilled last summer when her Medicare Advantage plan, SummaCare, began sending a worker to her house in Akron, Ohio, to mop floors, clean dishes, and help with computer problems. Some days, they would spend the two-hour weekly visit just chatting at her kitchen table. “I love it,” she said of the free benefit.

Bailey, 72, is one of thousands of seniors around the country being visited each week by employees of Papa Inc. Known as “Papa pals,” their primary aim is to provide companionship to seniors along with helping with errands and light housework duties. Since 2020, more than 65 Medicare Advantage plans nationwide have signed up with Papa, a Miami-based company, to address members’ loneliness — a problem exacerbated by the pandemic.