Medicare/Medigap Insurance
Found 107 Articles.
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Don’t Forget To Shop Around for Medicare
Each year I encourage Medicare beneficiaries to use Open Season to shop around and compare the options in their plans. This article makes many of the same points. While Medicare plans are regulated, there still is a lot of difference between plans. You easily could spend twice as much for coverage as you need to, […]
Medical Spending in Old Age and Retirement
This is a policy/academic paper by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Yet, it’s interesting reading. It points out that medical spending varies by income level, with lower income people on average spending more on medical care. But most of that spending is due to nursing home costs. The paper also looks at […]
Out-of-Pocket Medical Costs to Rise for Seniors
This article discusses several studies that project in the next couple of decades America’s seniors will pay greater shares of their income in medical expenses than seniors are doing today. The researchers made these projections without considering any future changes in Medicare. They also don’t include long-term care costs. They used a model that seeks […]
Good News About Becoming Older
Much has changed about aging in the U.S. over the last few decades, especially in the U.S. Most people haven’t kept up with the changes and still have a false view of things. This article points out some of the changes and how they have saved Medicare money and will save more in the future. […]
Variations in Medicare Spending
A few years ago the federal government started releasing detailed data about Medicare spending. Analysts quickly determined that Medicare spending averaged quite a bit around the country. Some areas have much higher average spending per Medicare beneficiary than others, and some providers bill Medicare much higher amounts. This blog post discusses a new study that […]
The Limits of Medicare Coverage
One of the biggest mistakes people make in retirement is not knowing the limits of Medicare coverage. Many people enter retirement believing that Medicare covers all or most of your medical expenses. This article goes into some detail about the out-of-pocket costs typical Medicare beneficiaries pay for cancer treatments. It’s based on a study by […]
Will Your Children be Required to Pay for Your Long-Term Care?
The cost of not planning for your long-term care could affect others. Your estate or children might be required to pay for your long-term care. Some little-used laws make this situation possible. Use of these laws increased the last few years, and they are likely to be used more in the future. Either the government or […]
Small Number of Drugs Are Most of Medicare’s Cost
When people dig into the data on medical spending, especially government’s share of the spending, they always reach one conclusion. A relatively small number of people consume most of the medical care in this country. Most people are relatively healthy, don’t use much medical care, and don’t take many drugs. But people with chronic conditions […]
