Medicare/Medigap Insurance
Found 108 Articles.
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Don’t Overpay For Medigap Coverage
Too many original Medicare beneficiaries pay much higher premiums than they should for Medicare Supplement, or Medigap, coverage. It’s important to have a plan to pay for the gaps in original Medicare coverage, as I discussed in last month’s issue. The best choice often is to buy a Medigap policy, which is a two-step process. […]
Medicare In-Home Services Expanded For some
In 2019, Medicare Advantage plans in about 20 states will be able to cover a range of home services that generally aren’t considered medical care and haven’t been covered in the past. It’s part of an experiment to see if providing these nontraditional services will improve health and medical outcomes for beneficiaries. The shift reflects […]
Some Medicare Experiments
Medicare regularly tests different ways to provide and pay for care. It’s becoming more creative and inventive than in the past. This article describes a series of test programs underway around the country, including one that pays for basic life needs that aren’t directly related to health care. If they produce results, they could become […]
Medicare Premiums Rise For 2019
Medicare announced the premiums and other costs for 2019. There’s a modest increase in the standard Part B premium to $135.50 per month from $134.00. As income increases, so do Part B premiums under the Medicare Surtax, or IRMAA, provision. This is where it can get very expensive for very high earners. For 2019, there […]
Understanding Medicare
There shouldn’t be anything new here to readers of Retirement Watch and my books, but this article is a good review of the basics of Medicare and how to choose your coverage. Deciding on a type of plan is critical. Take the example of someone who wants more freedom to select health care providers because […]
AARP’s Take On The Medicare Trustees’ Report
The recent annual report of the Trustees of Social Security and Medicare made a lot of headlines, and AARP didn’t like all of them. The organization responded with a different take than some of the media coverage. AARP argues that the programs will be able to pay most promised benefits indefinitely and could pay all […]
The Struggles Of Social Security And Medicare
The latest annual report from the Trustees of Social Security and Medicare is out, and it generated a lot of negative headlines. The big news from the report is that this year the income of the program will exceed the benefits it pays out, so it will have to dip into its reserves or trust […]
Changes Are Coming to Medicare
The recent budget deal in Congress included some changes in Medicare that haven’t received enough attention. The two-year budget deal in early February included a bill called the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic Care Act, also known as CHRONIC. The bill had passed the Senate in October and was rolled into […]
