Archive for the ‘ Medicare ’ Category

Medicare Supplement Insurance: A Right of Passage?

Rights of passage – you got your drivers license, became old enough to drink, got married, had children, hit 40, then 50 and became eligible for United of Omaha, retired, and now you’re 65 and are eligible for Medicare. Embrace it and the challenges that come with it. Shopping for a Medicare supplement plan is one of those challenges – but it’s really not that difficult.

If you’re over the age of 65 and do not have a retiree medical plan through a former employer or union or a government retiree plan and are not on Medicaid for medical coverage then you’ve likely had the pleasure of researching your options.

It’s especially difficult if you’re looking into this insurance when you’re first turning 65. If you’ve already gone through this you’ll know what I mean when I say your mailbox becomes cluttered with the marketing materials from all of the various providers of Medicare supplement providers and all of the educational material from Social Security and Medicare. You’ll get brochures and outlines of coverage and applications and scores of “Choosing a Medigap Policy” Guides (Medigap is another term for this insurance) and Medicare and You and notices and requests to send your information back on a card.

Maybe even worse are the phone calls and the unexpected visitors at the door all wanting to help you understand why their plans are best.

It is one of the worst forms of information overload you’ll ever experience. You’ll have a stack of Medicare and Medicare supplement guides 1 foot tall. They start about 6 months before your 65th birthday and just keep coming until several months after. Even after the age of 65 you’ll be bombarded towards the end of every year with offers from different companies. Many of them seem a little too good to be true – and they usually are.

To make things even a little more frustrating is that you have to forget everything you’ve ever known about health insurance prior to the age of 65.

You see, this insurance policies does not have doctor’s networks. They are not PPO’s or HMO’s. When you get a Medicare supplement you don’t have to worry about your doctor taking, or even preferring, one Medicare supplement companies plan over another’s. Your network is the Medicare network and the doctor’s office files medical claims with them – not with the Medicare supplement insurance company. Once Medicare approves the claim they will notify your Medicare Supplement Insurance provider that they have to pay their part. So, the Medicare supplement insurance company can’t make a decision if they want to pay a claim or not. If Medicare approves they have to pay their part. If Medicare does not approve the insurance company doesn’t pay anything either. Read more

2011
08/22
CATEGORY
Medicare
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Medicaid – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, known as CMS for short, is a federal agency in the United States Department of Health and Human Services that works with state governments to administer Medicaid, Medicare, health insurance portability standards and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. They have other responsibilities too, such as ensuring long-term care facility quality, clinical laboratory quality standards, and simplifying the administrative aspects of HIPPA 1996.

In 1965, the Social Security Act was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, which established both Medicaid and Medicare. The Social Security Administration was responsible for administrating Medicaid. Then, in 1977, the Heath Care Financing Administration (HCFA) became responsible for Medicaid and Medicare. In 1980, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) was split into two separate agencies now called the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HCFA moved under the Department of Health and Human Services. In July of 2001, HCFA was renamed the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This change was done to give the agency a new direction and a new spirit to reflect the CMS’s mission to serve millions of Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries throughout America.

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2011
03/12
CATEGORY
Medicare
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