Medigap

Even If You Have Medicare, You’ll Still Pay Thousands Out-Of-Pocket For Health Care

One of the biggest misconceptions seniors have about health care is this: I have Medicare so don’t need to worry about medical costs in old age.  It is a dangerous mistake. Not only does traditional Medicare generally not pay for long-term supports and services (either at home or in a nursing home), but it doesn’t pay for a significant chunk [...]

By |2019-11-08T09:36:33-05:00November 8th, 2019|Medicare|1 Comment

Medicare For All Has Nothing To Do With Medicare. Call It Something Else  

This week’s second round of debates among Democratic presidential hopefuls is producing a (mostly healthy) conversation about health insurance. But for normal people, much of the argument is enormously confusing. What are these candidates talking about? And how are their plans different from today’s Medicare and from one another? One way to make this debate more comprehensible is to drop [...]

By |2019-07-31T15:26:44-04:00July 31st, 2019|Medicare|0 Comments

Welcome to Medicare’s Open Season. Your Head Is About To Explode

It is Medicare open season. And, let’s face it, nobody has any idea what to do. The other night, I got a call from a friend who works in the long-term care advocacy world. She will soon turn 65 and is confronting the reality of enrolling in Medicare. She has been doing diligent research and creating detailed spreadsheets. And she [...]

By |2018-10-19T10:56:44-04:00October 19th, 2018|Medicare|4 Comments

A Bipartisan Group Proposes A Package of Modest, But Important Long-Term Care Financing Reforms

The Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington (DC) based group that develops consensus policy solutions,  has proposed a series of reforms aimed at helping families finance long-term care for themselves and their loved ones. The proposal aims to encourage more people to buy private long-term care insurance, including through Medicare,  and would provide a new Medicare respite benefit for family caregivers. [...]

By |2017-07-12T16:38:29-04:00July 12th, 2017|long-term care financing|0 Comments

CLASS is Killed: But How Will We Pay for Long-Term Care Services?

After spending 19 months trying to figure out how to make the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act work, the Obama Administration has abandoned the landmark national long-term care insurance program that was included in the 2010 health reform law. But it was easier for the Administration and vocal GOP critics of the program to kill CLASS than [...]