Retirement Healthcare and Medicare
Retirement expert Bob Carlson’s research and knowledge on how to get the most out of healthcare options
Found 311 Articles.
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Choosing a Medicare Supplement Plan
The limits of Medicare coverage are a surprise to many retirees. Some learn the lesson during their pre-retirement planning. Others don’t find out until they incur medical expenses in retirement. Medicare covers only about half the medical expenses incurred by retirees, according to studies over the years. The specifics vary for each beneficiary, of course. […]
Will Your Children be Required to Pay for Your Long-Term Care?
Many Americans worry that long-term care expenses will deplete their estates and cause them to run out of money. People also should worry that their children and estates might be required to pay for their long-term care, even after they are gone. That’s the trend in both federal and state law. A 1993 federal law […]
Some Good News on Medicare
While Medicare still has long-term funding problems because of the coming baby boom eligibility, there is some good news. The cost the program spends per beneficiary actually has been declining. This article has the details. The article is short on explanations, and it is difficult to generate them with confidence. But mostly people are using […]
Enhancing Your Medicare Benefits
Many people get Medicare wrong. That’s a shame, because it is the main retirement medical insurance for most Americans. Fortunately, you can fix most of the problems, and we’re entering the time of year for shaping up your Medicare benefits. In the last couple of years I’ve seen a lot of research revealing the mistakes […]
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Building the Case for Medicare Advantage
The Medicare Advantage alternative to traditional Medicare is increasing in popularity among beneficiaries but it isn’t popular among many Washington politicians. They’ve been trying to strangle the system for several years. They claim it costs too much. But that might not be the case. Take a look at this piece by someone who used to […]
Medicare Looking Better; Social Security Slightly Worse
The annual report of the Trustees of Social Security and Medicare is out. The report really is from the actuaries. It presents the financial condition of the “trust funds” based on current assumptions. The headline from the report almost always is the changes in the dates when the funds are estimated to be exhausted. In […]
Changing Medicare
Traditional Medicare still rules the roost, and the current administration wants to keep it that way. But more and more beneficiaries prefer the Medicare Advantage alternative. When they have a choice older Americans prefer these more structured plans, often with greater benefits, than the more chaotic traditional Medicare. Read more here. Today, 30 percent of […]
Why People Don’t Switch Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans
A few months back I reported on a survey that found many Medicare beneficiaries are paying about double the premiums they should be for their coverage under Part D Prescription Drug plans. Here’s a report on a recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation seeking to find reasons why people don’t switch Part D plans […]
