How much a knee replacement costs

Do you know how much a knee replacement costs?  I received this infographic from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. It looks like Blue Cross Blue Shield negotiates different prices with different providers – and negotiated prices can be a lot…

Politics and Medicare

politics and medicare

Politics and Medicare are featured in a recent NPR story. Here are highlights from the NPR story on politics and Medicare: The challenge for Medicare is not to expand benefits, but to figure out a way to control future cost…

How To Pay Your Medicare Premium

medicare help in 2017

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…

Medicare Advantage Auto Enrollment

Medicare Advantage auto enrollment

If you are turning 65 and transferring from an individual health plan to Medicare, BEWARE!  You might find yourself the victim of Medicare Advantage auto enrollment. I just read an article in Kaiser Health News that says: With Medicare’s specific…

Lidocaine Patch and Medicare

lidocaine patch and medicare

The most read article in this blog is about the Lidocaine Patch and Medicare Part D plans.  I wrote about this last year when a client called me to complain that she could no longer get the Lidocaine Patch through…