If you’re turning 65 and thinking about your Medicare, here is what you need to know: How you enroll in your Medicare depends on your current situation related to Social Security. If you are receiving Social Security payments, you will automatically…
Medicare costs are going up in 2017. Most people on Medicare currently pay a Part B premium of $104.90. That will go up in January to about $109. For people who are new to Medicare, or those who are not…
You can pay your Medicare premium in several ways. This info on how to pay your Medicare premium is from the Medicare.gov website: If you get Social Security, Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) benefits, or Civil Service benefits, your Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) premium will…
Are you confused by the Medicare alphabet soup? Many people are confused by all the letters that apply to parts of Medicare as well as Medicare supplements.
Two million people are receiving letters from Social Security to let them know about the Extra Help program for their Part D drug coverage. This is not junk mail and it is not a scam. Eleven million, or 30% of…
Who qualifies for help with Medicare costs? People in Arizona can use an online application at www.healthearizonaplus.gov QMB income & resource limits in 2016: Individual monthly income limit* $1,010 Married couple monthly income limit* $1,355 Individual resource limit $7,280…
Congress barred Medicare coverage of hearing aids 50 years ago because “people thought hearing loss was just a normal part of aging,” said Dr. Cassel, one of the authors of a recent JAMA editorial on hearing health policies. “They didn’t…
Don’t make this Medicare Advantage Dis-Enrollment Mistake.
Medicare covers non-emergency ambulance transport, but Medicare often refuses to pay such bills. Apparently, the devil is in the details – and it is up to seniors and their families to understand those details to avoid ambulance billing problems.
Written and produced by the Kaiser Family Foundation, The Story of Medicare: A Timeline serves as a visual timeline of Medicare’s history, including the debate that led to its creation in 1965 and subsequent changes.
changes are coming to medicare
I have spent the last week in freezing Connecticut helping my 87-year old friend figure out her medical bills. I wrote about Julie in December when I discovered her retiree Medicare supplement plan had been changed to a Medicare Advantage…
Retiree health benefits are pretty rare these days, but I have two friends and two relatives who worked for big companies that offer benefits to supplement Medicare for their retirees. These people are in their 70’s and 80’s and have each been moved from Medicare to Medicare Advantage plans – and not one of them understood what that meant.
This year’s Medicare Open Enrollment in Tucson is….. crazy. Crazy with so many people losing their plan, or losing their doctor from their plan network.
If your Medicare Advantage plan is canceled, you can go back to Original Medicare and get a Medicare supplement with guaranteed issue.
I was shopping on Sunday afternoon and met a woman who thinks she can’t afford Medicare. She told me she works full-time at the retail store so she can get the company health insurance. This woman is 70 years old and looks like she…
How do you appeal to Medicare if you have been denied coverage for a medical service? How do you lodge a complaint about a provider? The United Hospital Fund provides a list of numbers for each state on their website:…
Since 2011, Social Security has lost nearly 11,000 employees, and weekly field office hours have been reduced from 35 to 27. I read about this in LifeHealthPro, a magazine for the insurance industry. The article summarizes a report on Social Security:…
I had a call the other day from a woman who is turning 65 and wanted to talk to me about her Medicare choices. She said she is working, but is self-employed. She turns 65 in September, just over one month away. I asked her if she has her Medicare card and she said, “Huh? What is that?”
How much will your bill be if you are admitted to the hospital and you only have Medicare?
Medicare has released information on how much hospitals across the country charge for the most common surgeries. Here are the results for Tucson: Tucson Medical Center: .8 of the national average charge St Joseph Hospital: 1.0 of the national average…
Don’t believe the rumors about doctors no longer taking Medicare patients. The numbers don’t lie. Here are some infographics from the Kaiser Family Foundation that show the reality. Here is a map of the percentage of doctors in each…
Low-Income seniors will lose Medicare help they receive due to an error of omission in Washington – even though both political parties think the financial assistance program should continue.
Cold calling Medicare beneficiaries is against Medicare rules, but this being a slow time of year for insurance agents, seniors are getting calls that might disturb and/or confuse them.
For four years I wrote about Medicare in a blog that was part of Tucsoncitizen.com. Unfortunately, Gannett, the owner of the Tucsoncitizen.com, decided to shut down that site. I was able to move my 500 blog posts to this site.
Low-income Medicare beneficiaries get help with their Medicare Part B premium and their prescription drug costs
