More Changes Coming to Medicare
Medicare beneficiaries have been through a series of changes in recent years, and more changes are coming next year.The changes aren’t all positive, so they were released quietly last Friday. The good...
View ArticleGet Ready for Medicare Rationing, Restrictions
Paying for medical care promises to gobble much greater shares of federal and state government budgets. Medicare will come to dominate the federal budget. But what’s the cause of the rise? Many...
View ArticleObamacare and Your Retirement Medical Care
The Affordable Care Act of 2010 kicks into full effect in January 2014. There are pluses and minuses in the law for everyone. The law affects those who are in or nearing retirement. But it especially...
View ArticleMedicare Advantage Cuts, Round Two
Members of Medicare Advantage plans can expect a new round of premium increases or reduced benefits or both. The plans are very popular with their beneficiaries, and they’ve been growing as a...
View ArticleThis Medical Care Problem is Only Going to Be Worse
There’s a shortage of doctors, especially those to treat older people. The shortage increased in recent decades, and there are no plans to reverse course. You can expect it to get harder to find a...
View ArticleMore About Medicare and Obamacare
Full implementation still awaits the beginning of 2014, but researchers are finding clear trends in medical delivery and pricing as we prepare for Obamacare. The reports are springing up now, because...
View ArticleWhy Medical Providers Hate Medicare
I hear regularly from readers that it is difficult for Medicare beneficiaries to find new doctors or make nonemergency appointments. The reason is the way Medicare treats medical providers. Doctors are...
View ArticleLowest Price Prescription Drugs
It shouldn’t be a surprise that Costco is the place to find the lowest prices for drugs that recently became generic. CVS Caremark has some of the highest prices, according to Consumer Reports. The...
View ArticleReversing Course on Medicare Advantage Plans
Recently we reported that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid changed their rules on reimbursing insurers for Medicare Advantage. By tweaking the formula, they reduced planned reimbursements by about...
View ArticleSequester Leads to Medicare Reductions
Suppose you or a loved one has cancer and needs chemotherapy. But this week you’re told by the doctor or hospital that’s been administering the drugs that they can’t do it any longer. You’ll have to...
View ArticleMedicare Advantage Not Out of the Woods
I recently reported on the flip-flop the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services made on the Medicare Advantage plans. Initially the CMS said it would substantially reduce reimbursement rates for...
View ArticleComing Changes in Your Health Insurance
Obamacare takes full effect at the start of 2014, and you’ll begin to experience the changes later this year as employers and insurers plan for the changes. You might have to pick your new insurance...
View ArticleSeniors: Beware Obamacare Scams
Even the medical insurance experts don’t understand a lot about the Affordable Care Act of 2010, or Obamacare. Con artists are taking advantage of the confusion and misunderstanding to prey on...
View ArticleCongress Doesn’t Like Obamacare
Reports are rampant that congressional leaders are negotiating a way to exempt themselves and their staffers from the requirements of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. It seems they are able to identify...
View ArticleAffordable Care Act and You
One reason some business managers give for not expanding is that they don’t know what the implementation date of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 will have on their businesses. Most individuals don’t...
View ArticleMedicare’s Dumping a Program That Works
Though the federal government’s various medical payment programs are regimented and uniform, they do allow various pilot or test programs. The pilot programs start small and sometimes expand when they...
View ArticleHelp Figuring, Fighting Your Medical Bills
It shouldn’t have to be this way, but some people need to hire someone to figure out their medical bills and fight the charges. Medical bills are designed for the bureaucrats and computers at insurance...
View ArticleRevealing Hospital Charges
Some of us have asserted that one reason medical costs seem out of control is the lack of transparency. Hospitals don’t post their charges for procedures in advance, and their bills are inscrutable to...
View ArticleEstimating Retirement Medical Spending
Medical expenses are the wild card in all retirement plans. They are very difficult to estimate and control. Fidelity Investments has been putting out an annual estimate of retirement medical spending...
View ArticleBehind the Medicare Numbers
Each year the trustees of Social Security and Medicare issue a report. The main focus of the report is the financial condition of the “trust funds.” In recent years one of the public trustees, Charles...
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