New Hampshire

Fewer options, more confusion for Medicare enrollment in New Hampshire this year

Published

4 months ago

October 22, 2025

Fewer options, more confusion for Medicare enrollment in New Hampshire this year

The enrollment period for Medicare began Oct. 15 and lasts until Dec. 7. But this year, there are fewer options for Medicare Advantage plans, requiring more work for many patients and healthcare providers during and after enrollment.

Major insurance carriers like Anthem and Martin’s Point have pulled out of Medicare Advantage in New Hampshire. Aetna has also pulled out of most counties in the state while some counties, like Coos, only have two options for seniors.

According to the New Hampshire Insurance Department, 77,000 seniors are affected by these Medicare Advantage changes.

At an information session this week at the Concord Public Library, Tim Harrigan, a state-licensed, private Medicare plan advisor, walked Medicare enrollees through the process of signing up for the program. Harrigan offers services to seniors for free, and is paid by most insurance carriers that serve Medicare Advantage plans.

One thing Harrigan teaches enrollees is how to navigate the many calls a person might receive once they’re eligible for Medicare, including from scammers.

“Medicare will never, ever call you ever, unless you reached out to them, and they’re getting back to you,” Harrigan told the group at Concord Public Library. “The Social Security Administration will never, ever call you unless you reached out to them, and they’re getting back to you with a response.”

Harrigan says it’s best for seniors to reach out to their local Social Security office, rather than using a 1-800 number from a third party, especially if they can’t confirm who they are speaking to.

A spokesperson for the New Hampshire Insurance department encouraged patients to call Medicare directly at 1-800-Medicare or contact ServiceLink, New Hampshire’s State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) for free counselors that can help them navigate enrollment.

During this current enrollment period, Harrigan said he’s been working everyday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. trying to get people enrolled. The biggest concern he’s seen so far is that seniors are losing their current plans starting next year. He worries that some might not be able to access some of the region’s top hospitals, as they have in the past.

“If you live in northern or western New Hampshire, there’s really only one option, and that’s an HMO plan where the local doctors are not in the network,” Harrigan said. “For example, Dartmouth-Hitchcock isn’t in the network with that company. So the only network facilities they’ll be able to access are in Concord,” which may be further for patients to travel.

At the information session, a number of people said they are losing their current Medicare Advantage plans, and must choose from limited options, or have had to change plans for multiple years in a row.

Jim Culhane, president and CEO of Lake Sunapee Region VNA & Hospice, said they are bracing for the impact Medicare Advantage changes will have on seniors who receive their services, and on their own operations.

“If you change insurance on January 1, and you were having services with us on December 30, and you’re having services that continue well after the first of the year, our job is to make that largely seamless,” Culhane said. “But that seamlessness takes a lot of work behind the scenes to ensure a person doesn’t have a break in care at the start of the new year.”

Culhane said that work requires “a lot of hours and a lot of people behind the scenes that are completing certain documentation, changing documentation, creating new schedules and so on.”

Culhane said navigating Medicare — whether people are choosing Part D supplemental insurance or enrolling in Medicare Advantage — can be complicated because insurance companies might offer one benefit at the cost of another.

“The devil’s in the details, and consumers rarely have the opportunity to explore what those details are, and frequently buy products that may or may not be ideal for them,” Culhane said.

After January 1, Culhane said Lake Sunapee Region VNA & Hospice may see patients who have new coverage that doesn’t cover their prior treatment plans, meaning providers may have to adapt those plans if patients can’t afford to pay out of pocket.

“Whereas one insurance may say, ‘yes, they can have eight physical therapy visits,’ another insurance will say, ‘no, we’re only going to approve four physical therapy visits,’ ” he said.

Culhane said coverage changes could reduce the availability of in-home support or other outpatient care, for example, which could reduce patient safety at home, and lead to rehospitalization.

“It’s a very expensive outcome when an individual goes back to the hospital and it’s certainly not what the patient would like,” Culhane said. “When we develop a plan of care and say an individual needs a certain number of nursing visits or physical therapy or occupational therapy visits in order to remain home, we do so under the philosophy of trying to prevent someone from needing to go back to the hospital.”

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New Hampshire

N.H. woman accused of civil rights violation after allegedly shooting at lost man because he was Black

Published

8 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

N.H. woman accused of civil rights violation after allegedly shooting at lost man because he was Black

Local News

Diane Durgin, 67, is accused of shooting at a Black man who inadvertently drove to her property after a prearranged truck part sale, prosecutors said.

A New Hampshire woman is accused of violating the state’s Civil Rights Act four times after she allegedly shot at a man because he was Black, prosecutors said.

Diane Durgin, 67, of Weare, N.H. could face up to a $5,000 fine for each violation she is found to have committed, the office of New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a press release Tuesday.

Durgin is also charged with criminal threatening against a person with a deadly weapon and attempted first degree assault with a deadly weapon, Michael Garrity, a media representative for the New Hampshire Attorney General, said in an emailed statement to Boston.com.

Durgin had a final pre-trial conference last week, Garrity said.

In a civil complaint filed Tuesday, Durgin is accused of threatening physical force against the victim, the AG said. Prosecutors asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction barring Durgin from repeating her alleged behavior and from contacting the victim and his family.

During the morning hours of Oct. 20, 2024, the victim claims, he “mistakenly” drove to Durgin’s home after a prearranged purchase of a truck part with a seller online, prosecutors wrote as part of their request for an injunction.

When the man — whom prosecutors identified in court documents as X.G. — arrived, Durgin allegedly stepped out of her home and approached his car with a gun “holstered by her waist,” prosecutors wrote.

Upon noticing that X.G. was Black, Durgin allegedly “removed her gun and pointed it at X.G.,” prosecutors said in the injunction request.

While X.G. explained that he was lost, Durgin called the victim a “Black mother[expletive],” and threatened to “kill him,” prosecutors allege.

As the victim attempted to drive away, Durgin allegedly took her gun and fired two shots at the fleeing man’s car, missing both times, the AG’s office said.

While on the phone with a dispatcher, Durgin allegedly said she shot the man’s car because the victim is Black, the AG said.

“The guy is Black. And he, he…he says he’s meeting someone here and I think he’s coming here to steal,” Durgin allegedly said.

Police located X.G. and brought him to the Weare Police Department, stopping along the way at the correct seller’s home to complete the truck part purchase, prosecutors wrote in court documents.

To prove a violation of the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act, the AG must show that Durgin “interfered or attempted to interfere with the rights of the victim to engage in lawful activities by threatening to engage in or actually engage in physical force or violence, when such actual or threatening conduct was motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, or disability,” prosecutors said.

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New Hampshire

Up to 4 inches of snow expected in NH tonight. See latest forecast

Published

20 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Up to 4 inches of snow expected in NH tonight. See latest forecast

It may be March, but winter in New Hampshire is far from over. Just one week after a blizzard tore through the state with heavy snow and high winds, the state is getting another round of snowfall.

The state will get three to five inches during the evening and night of Tuesday, March 3, says the National Weather Service (NWS) of Gray, Maine. While the accumulation will not be significant, the snowfall may cause dangerous road conditions and a layer of ice on the ground in certain parts of the state.

Here’s what to know before tonight’s snow in New Hampshire, including snow totals and timing.

When will it snow in NH tonight?

According to the NWS, it will start snowing in New Hampshire during mid-afternoon or early evening and continue through the night. Specifically, snow will arrive to the southern part of the state around 2-3 p.m., spreading northwards through the rest of New Hampshire by 5 p.m.

Rain or freezing rain will mix in later this evening across southern New Hampshire, creating a wintry mix. All precipitation should move out of the state by midnight.

Due to the timing of today’s snowfall, the Tuesday evening commute will be affected, with the NWS warning to slow down and exercise caution while driving.

How much snow will NH get tonight?

New Hampshire will get one to four inches of snow tonight, with one to two inches in northern New Hampshire, two to three inches in southern New Hampshire and three to four inches in the center of the state, with the possibility for five inches in localized areas.

In the Seacoast specifically, Portsmouth, Rye, Hampton and York are expected to get between two to three inches of snow, while Dover, Exeter and Rochester may get up to four.

The wintry mix may also cause a light glaze of ice across southern New Hampshire.

NH weather watches and warnings

The NWS has issued a winter weather advisory for the state of New Hampshire, in effect from 1 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3 through 4 a.m. on Wednesday, March 4.