My grandfather lived to be 102 years old. He was healthy until the day he died. We stayed close to him. He knew we all loved him and we knew he loved us.

He walked almost a mile and back every day to the senior center until he was 98 and it became to taxing for him. He then started taking the bus. He didn’t like that so much, but he did it anyway.

When he was 99 years old, he got mugged by 3 girls who beat him with their fists, kicked him around and also used his cane to beat him. He wasn’t the same after that and he became frightened as well as began getting headaches.

He had lived in his own apartment until that time and he finally asked us to find him a good nursing home. We knew one because my other grandmother had been there until she died at the age of 91.
continue reading "Making Nursing Homes More Like Home"

When you are trying to cover – especialy when it comes to retirement expenses for healthcare – it is not an easy task, especially now when healthcare is in a confusing state and being reworked.

Nonetheless, the Employee Benefit Research Institute is trying to help figure the numbers out as they have for many years. Here are some of the facts they are offering:

If you look at the best case scenario of a 65 year old man who will supplement Medicare retiree benefits from a former empoyer and his health insurance premiums are subsidized by his former employer, he’ll need $68,000 om current savings to have a 50% chance to have enough money to cover health care in retirement.

A 65 year old woman who will supplement Medicare with retiree benefits but the former employer doesn’t subsidize premium costs will need current savings of $159,000 to have a 50% chance of having enough money to cover health care coverage in rretirement.

You’ll notice that the woman will need more than the man for two reason. One is that in her case her employer is not subsidizing her premium costs. In addition, studies have shown that women’s health costs are more than men’s. These two factors make her situation more expensive and her savings higher and more critical.

For a 65 year old married couple who don’t have employment-based retiree health benefits and who will have to suppement their Medicare by purchasing Medigap and Medicare Part D outpatient drug coverage. They will need current savings to have a 50% chance of having enough money to pay for retirement healthcare costs.

This is just the best case scenario under current conditions. Things could be worse. There are numerous variables that can affect the situation and who knows what will happen if and when Medicare and healhcare reform kick in.

The main idea is that you should start saving for retirement and for medical expenses for retirement. Whatever you are able to put away now will start growing and help you in the long term. Put away as much as possible every time you get paid whether it’s $5.00 or $50.00. Anything is better than nothing.

Some quotes by Diane Stafford

We try to keep it real here, so this is a real life situation that someone had to go through. It is not just unfortunate but disgraceful that this should happen to people who have paid every cent of their premiums for everything that they had to pay through the years.

Then in the years that they needed it most, it didn’t come through for them the way it should have. Here is the story exactly as told to the Des Moines Register on June 13, 2009. The reason this is so important is that there are many people in this type of situation, and though the government is trying to fix all the healthcare woes, they don’t seem to be hearing the people. This is the story of Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Ziesman

My husband, Floyd Ziesman, passed away in March 2008 from a rare lung cancer. For 10 years, we had to fight the system, even though we had group health insurance through my employers as well as his Medicare and Medicare supplement.

When I would lose a job due to financial cutbacks or bankruptcy, we paid COBRA because of the expensive drugs that Floyd was taking that were not covered under Medicare Part D.

We unwittingly did not understand first-payer, second-payer and third-payer changes under COBRA. Mayo Clinic did not understand, either. So a hospital stay in 2000 resulted in the bill not being paid by any of the insurance policies. After being sued, we paid it so that Mayo Clinic would still service Floyd.

The next time this happened in 2004, again no one would pay. This time, I contacted 12 elected officials. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa Sens. Stewart Iverson and Mike Gronstal and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack all worked to straighten out the mess. Even though the group insurance was still receiving its full premium of $1,135 a month, Medicare was to be billed first when I had become an inactive employee.

A single-payer national health insurance would have eliminated the hassle we endured while also trying to take care of Floyd’s medical needs.

The United States can make universal, comprehensive coverage affordable by saving the hundreds of billions we now waste on insurance paper pushing and other overhead costs in trying to connect coverage from health facilities to the different insurance companies.

– Julie Stewart Ziesman, Alden

Hopefully, these words will be heard by the government officials that Mrs. Ziesman wrote to and they will take the story to D.C. and make sure it is heard and understood. Medicare, Medicare Supplement and healthcare reform is not easy, but it is supposed to save money while benefittin the people. The stories like these need to be heard.

Medicare Supplements used to be easier to navigate, then they got pretty complicated and now there will be more changes in June 2010, a year from now, so who knows what to expect.

In talking to individuals who deawith Medicare and Medicare Supplements there are some ideas they have to help people get the right supplement.

Some of the ideas include looking at your paperwork from the year (before you have to sign up again) and see where you spent the most. Determine what was not covered that you needed covered that you had to pay out of your own pocket. We are not talking about small expenses. We are talking about expenses that have added up over the year that are worth the cost of additional coverage or worth possibly changing supplements. For instance, if you spent $400 on a particular medical issue and you could add extra coverage in a different supplement and the coverage would only cost you $125, it could very well be time to change supplements.

There are 12 supplements available and they are sold by various companies. It is important to compare policies and compare prices from different companies. Some people have saved several hundred dollars by dong this.

Each of the 12 policies has specific coverage and no matter what company sells it, that coverage is the same. The problem is that many people don’t realize that one company can sell you a supplement for a certain amount and another company can sell you the same exact policy for much more – even double the price.

It is worth the time to check around and find two main things: what is the best price you will get and will it give you better coverage on the areas you are not covered well on now.

The ways to compare are to go on the internet and type in Medicare Supplelment or Medicare Supplement Savings and you will be taken to pages and pages of information including information directly from CMS and special calculators that help figure out the right policy for you. It is important to make sure to check the information to make sure the site isn’t an insurance company trying to sell you something unless you compare that site against others to find the best supplement and price for you.

You can also call your insurance agent and tell them that you are paying too much out of pocket. Is there another supplement he can suggest that will help you save some money either in premiums or out of pocket costs. Then call a few other agents and ask the same question. They should all send you paperwork that will show the figures – make sure you ask for that paperwork and then compare it.

If you start at least 6 to 8 weeks before you need to renew, you should have your information in time to make an informed decision. It sounds like a bit of work, but in the long run you could save enough money to put into savings and/or go on a nice vacation.

They say it is best to be forewarned about something important that is going to happen. There are some big changes that will be happening when it comes to Medicare Supplement Insurance – also known as Medigap. It is important for those who need Medicare Supplements to begin to learn about these changes now so that they will know and understand what they need when the time comes next year. This will give people enough time to ask questions, find information, talk to professionals and attend meetings regarding the changes well in advance.

In an effort to protect individuals covered by Medicare Supplements, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners suggested these changes to protect consumers in many ways. One way will be to eliminate duplicate coverage and add additional coverage that will be beneficial.

The new changes include:
*Plans E, H, I and J will be eliminated
*The lower cost Plan M and Plan N will be released and co-pays will be included in these newer plans
*The Home Care benefit will be rmoved from plan G and the 80% coverage will be increased to 100% coverage
*Plans A and Plans C and F must be sold by all insurers offering Plan A
*A hospice benefit will beincluded in all new plans being released

There will be new pricing available by all companies with these new plans. This means that companies that are not selling supplements now will likely begin to sell them in addition to the companies already selling them. This should create more competition and lower prices for premiums.

These changes should help most consumers enrolling in Medicare for the first time. People with chronic or serious health problems may have to stay on their current plans, though this may not be the case.

The way to determine what your situation will be is to start researching. Check with your current agent. One important thing to do is to be sure that he/she is familiar with and understands these new changes. Regardless of whether he/she does or not, check on the internet under Medicare Supplements, Medicare Supplement Changes 2010, and CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services). You will find pages and pages of entries under each of those categories including explanations, calculators that will help you determine what is best for you and more.

Updating products to help consumers is not a bad thing. The bad thing is to be left at the last minute without the information you need to make an informed decision. There is a year to do this research so you can do it a little at a time- a half hour here and a half hour there – and you will learn what you need to know when the time comes.

Since the idea is to protect consumers, a little homework will go a long way in protecting you and helping you to get the coverage that is right for you.

A new program called “Medicare Supplements for You” began recently in Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas. The plan was designed to make it easier to find the right Medicare supplement plan for each resident of those states.

The plan is found on the internet at MedicareSupplementsForYou.com and has experts continuously searching and comparing the Medicare supplement options that are available in those sttes and working to simplify the buying process for those residents that are trying to buy supplements.

Though Medicare is a good foundation and does a good job for over 40 million people, it does have some gaps
between various medical services and the amount that Medicare covers, leaving the Medicare recipient to pay for these items out of their own pocket. Some of these items are not expensive, however some can cost quite a bit. This is where Medicare supplements come in. They cover many things that Medicare doesn’t cover, giving the individual more comprehensive coverage.

The hardest part of getting a Medicare supplement is navigating through the maze of supplements available. It can be confusing and take a lot of time to do. In addition, in the end, if you are stil confused, you could choose the wrong supplement for you, leaving you paying premiums while still having to pay the extra costs for services not covered by basic services.

That’s where MedicareSupplementsForYou.com comes in. There are 12 Medicare supplelment plans sold by various insurance companies. The price can differ depending upon ge, location and other items. The other issue is Insurance Company A could charge $100 for a policy while Insurance Company B could chargd $50 for the exact policy.

MedicareSupplementsForYou.com helps reduce the overall cost of a Medicare supplement plan and at the same time it provides the most comprehensive insurance suited to an individual’s needs. Residents of the states served can sign up to get a free quote by going to the website. They will receive their information within 48 hours.

Having the right insurance as we get older is essential. Not having to do all the research alone is a comfort.

A personal finance columnist recently wrote a piece in the Tribune in Tuscon, Arizona. The article was regarding shopping around and making comparisons before you make a decision regarding Medicare Supplements. Rather than change his words, the article is re-printed below. His way of explaining shoping around and the results are exceptional and can help anyone who is looking for a Medicare Supplement.

Business
The Savings Game : I shopped around and did save on insurance
Opinion by Humberto Cruz
Tribune Media Services
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.10.2009

As a personal-finance columnist, I tell readers to shop around when buying insurance. With my homeowners, windstorm, automobile and umbrella liability insurance policies all coming up for renewal at the same time, I tested the wisdom of that advice.
Truth be told, I was quite busy at the time and quite tempted to simply send in my renewal checks and be done with it.
But that’s not what I tell readers to do. So I asked for competing quotes from three independent insurance agents (who deal with several companies instead of recommending just one).
The result: I saved more than $655 a year — and in some cases got better coverage — while finding a new insurance agency that has offered better price and service and is nearer our home.
In addition, another agent at the new firm helped my wife, Georgina, shop around for Medicare supplement and Medicare Part D drug prescription policies to be in place by July 1, the month she turns 65.
Comparison shopping among all available Medicare supplement policies in our state (Florida) confirmed that the policy Georgina planned to buy offered the best combination of coverage and price for her.
But — this is not uncommon — the prescription-drug policy offered by the same insurance company did not. Our agent suggested a policy from another company that, based on the medicines Georgina takes, will save her about $114 a year.
We did have to work for our savings, putting in about eight hours of research and legwork, contacting insurance agencies and checking references, reviewing policies and making sure the insurance companies recommended to us had a solid financial-strength rating.
It was well worth the effort, with annual savings of more than $96 for every hour spent.
As consumer guides from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners point out, and as we plainly saw, different companies charge different rates for the same coverage.
“The only way you can make certain you are not paying too much is to shop around,” say the guides, which you can download for free from the “Consumers” section of the NAIC Web site, www.naic.org
Here’s good advice from the NAIC, an association of state insurance regulators nationwide, which I’m glad I followed:
• Talk to representatives from different companies (or independent agents that can sell policies from many) and ask for quotes for the coverage you need.
• Once you’ve narrowed down the list of companies, call your state department of insurance (Arizona: 1-800-325-2548) and check whether they are permitted to do business in your state (all the companies recommended to us are). If any one is not, don’t buy the insurance and tell your department of insurance that the company is trying to do business in the state.
• Check with rating agencies for a financial strength rating or grade of the insurance companies. Don’t just go with the lowest-priced policy. You want the company to be there if you need to file a claim. For more information on ratings and to look them up, you can search the Web sites www.insbuyer.com/insurance rating.htm and www.insure.com
• Also check the company’s complaint record, which you can request from the NAIC’s Consumer Information Source at https://eapps.naic.org/cis (Please note the “https://”)
Send questions or comments to Humberto Cruz at [email protected].

“Even the best health insurance plans have gaps in the level of coverage you receive. Supplemental health insurance is designed to fill in those gaps and cover the additional costs that come with illness and injury. These gaps can include deductibles and co-payments on regular insurance, prescription medication, lab tests, alternative medical treatment, lost income and living expenses, among other things. Supplemental health insurance is an often-overlooked insurance product, but thanks in part to Aflac (Stock Quote: AFL) and its famous duck marketing campaign, it’s becoming more popular. ”

Supplemental health insurance premiums are typically less expensive than regular health insurance because the maximum benefit is usually much lower. This is true of Medicare Supplements. They are designed to cover the items that are not covered by your basic Medicare policy. Your Medicare offers benefits for qualified medical expenses as is deemed “ordinary and necessary” up to the policy limit. With supplemental insurance, the benefits are allocated in dollar amounts for specific situations up to the policy limit. For example, you might get extra money per day for each day you spend in the hospital over the Medicare limit if you have a supplemental health policy. Those benefits wil be subject to a cap, however they will still help you deal with the expenses.

For example, if you are injured in an auto accident and your auto insurance pays your medical bills, your health insurance will not pay. With supplemental health insurance, that doesn’t happen. Policyholders still receive their cash benefit regardless of what other benefits are paid by other policies. Because of this, cash from a supplemental health policy can be used to pay deductibles on other insurance policies and minimize or eliminate the out-of-pocket expenses of the policyholder.

There are a variety of options available in the supplemental health insurance market. One option is a policy that is specific to a disease such as cancer or long term nursing home care. This can be used to supplement the cost of procedures, time off work, transportation to treatments, etc. Another option is a policy specifically for accidents. These policies typically pay out a death or dismemberment benefit as well. The most popular supplemental policy is for those on Medicare. Medicare doesn’t cover long term health care costs, in-home health care or prescription drugs, so seniors often also have a Medicare supplemental policy as well as long term care insurance.

If you feel that you need more coverage, it is a good idea to look into the supplements available and compare the cost and the coverage. The website www.CMS.gov can help you compare, or you can type in Medicare Supplemental Coverage into your browser and there are calculators and comparisons available. Make sure you are completely covered. Do some research and find the supplement that is right for you.

Some quotes from: The Basics of Supplemental Health Insurance
By: BankingMyWay.com Staff

Medicare Advantage has gone through a lot of controversy since it was first introduced. The newest situation is that Lawmakers are considering options to change the structure of Medicare Advantage payents starting in 2011 or 2012. They are considering modifying benchmark rates or using the competetive bid method where companies who want to be able to offer the plans offer the most competetive and fair rates and payments.

“It’s clear every one of these [MA pay options] would be a revenue reduction from where we’re at, and it appears [that] administrative burdens would also go up, possibly dramatically,” Pat Dunks, a principal and consulting actuary with the Milwaukee office of Milliman, Inc., said. Mr. Dunks is worried theat the estimates are not correct because they are partially based on scheduled cuts to physicians which will not really take place, which skews the formula the pay options are being based on.

The aim is to actually try to reduce cost and at the same time improve quality in the health care system, especially when it comes to health care delivery. Senator Bacus And Senator Grassley of the Senate Finance Committee discussed the proposals and asked for feedback, also stating that they would hep in an way they could to help create a fair and comprehensive plan. In fact, they included 48 pages in two more policy option papers trying to describe how the committee could consider promoting quality, efficiency and care management among MA plans.

They suggested linking payment to quality. There could be a 5 star ranking system and CMS’s current system could be a prototype with a few changes. The higher the consumer satisfaction, the higher increase in pay vs. lower-ranked plans. There are still numerous details that would need to be worked out including better inpatient and outpatient plans plus issues with home health care and physician and skilled nursing services. “If MA plans have to create a quality program for each service they offer, that all adds a lot of administrative burden to plans,” he contends. And if such programs aren’t also put in FFS Medicare cost estimates, that worsens the competitive situation.”

Then comes a more effficient payment system which would have to include changing the current benchmarks.
Since there are differences in payment rates in different parts of the country, for instance, New Yor and Los Angeles vs. small town Ohio or North Dakota, there needs to be a way to equal the inequeties in some way. Figuring out a formula to do this fairly will take time.

Another idea that was included was possible bonuses. If bidding doesn’t work, bonuses for the plans that work the best could be an incentive. At any rate, at least lawmakers and others are working to try to make it all come together and work for everyone. For more information on reform options go to www.finance.senate.gov.

Recently the reports about the economy have been dismal – even on a good day. Eveery day we here something more about Medicare and Social Security and the problems they are having. We hear dire predictions about when funds will run out, and it’s not too far in the future and the economists aren’t kidding this time.

Unfortunately, this problem has been allowed to snowball from administration to administration and the buck has to stop here and now to save these benefits and their assistance to millions of elderly and disabled individuals.

How the lawmakers will do this is the question. We know that there are cuts that will have to happen and we know that many people will be affected. The question is how large are the cuts and how much will people be affected by them?

There are many people who do not have much income or savings and are counting on Social Security and Medicare to help them survive their retirement years. With the cuts proposed, retirement might be very diferent than they thought, even though they might have a little money saved up.

Many who were relying on retirement funds some of which hav been invested in stocks – which overall have fallen over 40% since last year – are not in a good situation either. The funds they depended on may not be there. They may be better off than some, but not much better off if they had money in institutions that have failed or nearly failed.

According to projections from actuaries, the funds will run out of money sooner than originally thought. In addition, with unemployment extremely high, those who are no longer earning wages are also not paying payroll taxes into Social Security and medicare. As a result, the revenue for those funds is lower, which could make the projections of running out of money even closer and more dire.

Finance writer Dan Caplinger says “Even though Social Security and Medicare are vitally important for most people, huge budget deficits and our current economic woes will make it extremely difficult to get these programs back on course financially. No one seems to want to raise taxes during a recession, but the proposals on health-care reform are all expensive.

The conclusion you have to draw is that government programs may not do as much for you as you’d hoped. By taking charge of your own retirement, you can anticipate medical costs and other living expenses and save accordingly. Given the precarious positions that Social Security and Medicare are in, the fruits of your pre-planning might be all you have after you retire.”

Even if the lawmakers are able to fix the systems in some ways, it is not a bad idea to start planning for a backup plan so that no matter what happens, you will have more to fall back on just in case.

It is interesting how much the financial world and the corporate world have changed over the past few decades. You used to be able to work someplace, put in your time, retire, and count on the benefits that you paid in for and were promised.

That is not the way the world works any more. You put in your time and when someone absconds with the money or the financial picture changes for the company, you get a letter telling you that they are so sorry but your benefits are gone. The letter is typed by a secretary in the same situation that you are in, though she or he probably doesn’t know it yet. The letter is dictated by someone who will never be in that situation because of the millions he or she has made plus the perks and bonuses.

As a result, a group of retired Xerox Corporation employees plans to picket headquarters on Glover Avenue in Norwalk, CA to protest the elimination of the company’s “promised healthcare benefits.” That’s one way to repay loyalty and hard work. Maybe if the CEO and his or her board took a pay cut, the benefits could be paid for and stay in tact. This is not affecting a small group of people. It will affect 16,000 employees, half of them immediately.

David Conale, chairmain of the Association of Retired Xerox Employees states: “It means that every retiree over 65 — that is the last group of retirees who retired from 1995 on — they’re going to be losing somewhere between $1,400 and 1,700 a year that (Xerox) used to pay for a Medicare supplement.”

On Thursday morning, Coriale plans to bring a busload of about 30 retiree shareholders from the Rochester, N.Y., area. Another 20 or 30 retirees living in the Norwalk area will join them to picket outside the gate of the company headquarters at 45 Glover Ave. in advance of the annual shareholders’ meeting at 9 a.m., he said.

“We’re going to have a peaceful picket in front of the gated area,” Coriale said. “We’re going to be adjourning the picket line around 8:30 or 8:45, so all of us can go into the meeting.”

The Association of Retired Xerox Employees was formed in 2003 as a means to advocate for retired employees and their benefits. It has 2800 members throughout the U.S. making it the largest Xerox organization in the country. The association is also a shareholder in the company and attends annual shareholder meetings.

Management, of course, feels that even with the cuts to retirees, the retirement package “remains attractive and exceeds industry standards.” Nonetheless, it is not what the people who retired from Xerox were promised and with gains of $42 million for the first quarter (figures released last month), even though there were losses last year and measures put in place to save money – some at these retirees expense – there should be a few dollars in the coffers to keep from cheating seniors and retirees – usually the most vulnerable among us – from the benefits they worked hard for and count on to maintain their health and sometimes their life.

There are numerous combinations of plans available through Medicare, Medicare Supplements and Medicare Advantage that can provide coverage for health issues that you may struggle with if you are a senior. Some of the combinations of coverage work quite well and will cover you quite well. Other combinations fall short.

Even with all that coverage, there is one area that is not covered, and it is something that most people don’t think about and don’t realize – that one day you may need some form of nursing care – either in a nursing home or in your own home – to do even the most basic tasks of daily living. Medicare doesn’t cover that and neither do Medicare supplements. You’ll get a limited number of days in a skilled nursing facility after you’ve been hospitalized. But those programs don’t cover extended “custodial care.”

Medicaid will eventually help, however you will end up in a state run nursing facility. Some of these facilities are basically O.K. right now, many are not, and if you think about how things will be in 10 to 20 years with tax cuts and other issues, it will not be a positive situation unless there are a lot of positive changes with the system.

Most people don’t want to think about it because it’s too far in the future to worry about. It may be too far for you, but it could happen to your parents. There are some ideas, such as taking over your parents’ assets (since you can have extremely few or almost no assets to qualify for a state nursing home) and there are other things you can do, but when it comes down to it there are other solutions available.

Purchasing Long-term care insurance can give you the choice of in-home care, assisted living facilities, or private nursing homes. These are all good alternatives and they do not have to be expensive. In addition, I know of families who work together to pay the premiums so it is easy on everyone. Plus, there are discounts when you buy policies for both parents. Statistics show that nearly 70% of seniors will need care in a nursing home at some point.

The government can only do so much, and lately we are seeing the results of mismanagement as well as the issue of cleaning up and straightening out the mess. Because of this, it is important to protect yourself, your assets and your health wherever and however possible.

Medicare Advantage plans were put in place to give private insurance plans the chance to provide more benefits than Medicare was providing, many of them do. Some give better and more benefits than others and it can be confusing trying to find out which ones are the best.

The question has come up continually as to whether this is the best use of our dollars, there are probably two different answers. One is that the Medicare Advantage – just like any system has flaws can be improved and can have tighter reigns and more oversight, so that it operates as effectively as it was originally supposed to do on paper. The other answer is maybe. Medicare Advantage is a system that provides a better alternative for many Medicare beneficiaries (better than Medicare itself, and more cost-effective than Medicare supplement plans for healthy people in the long-run). Medicare Advantage works on the basis that private insurance companies are receiving monies from the government, who agreed to subsidize private insurance plans when it gave them the opportunity to provide Medicare Advantage plans in Medicare+Choice and Medicare Modernization legislation. In return, beneficiaries get to choose their benefits.

One of the most important issues, however, is making sure that the individuals who are selling Medicare Advantage actually understand it, and understand Medicare and Medicare Supplements. This is where beneficiaries save or lose money and/or benefits. Some people are best left on their original benefits, perhaps with a few changes, especially if they have more health problems. On the other hand, many people who are healthy and are not in and out of the doctor’s office might do well with the right Medicare Advantage plan. It is critical that the individuals who are setting up coverage for seniors know what they are doing and how to do it so that people will be better off with the plans they are advised to choose.

Medicare Advantage plans do hold costs down for consumers. Medicare supplements do too, but are better for unhealthier people. However, supplement premiums are higher because they don’t get subsidizations. The government is giving $11.4 billion to Medicare Advantage plans. The question is, could single payer plan patterned after Medicare give everyone adequate health care – even those who are not on Medicare but are without healthcare altogether.

Under the budget crunches throughout the country there are many programs trimming their belts to save money. One phenomenon that is happening in many states is that programs such as the Prescription Advantage which subsidizes seniors’ payments for medication are being cut or discontinued. These are benefits that subsidize Medicare Supplements so that seniors who just do not have the funds can still get the medication they depend upon.

We have long heard about seniors or those with very limited income having to make the choice between paying for medicine and buying food. Many across this country never really believed this could happen or certainly never knew someone it was happening to, such as a neighbor, friend or family. Now, these days, we all know someone who is struggling in this way, and many of us know more than just one person who is having to make these terrible and difficult choices.

There are still programs out there that can help, but having worked with individuals that need a lot of help, it can be a lot of work to get the assistance. In the past, before things got so bad financially for the country, I have done research on the subject and helped pass it on to organizations who help the poor and the elderly. The amount of help out there now is harder to find and the rules have gotten extremely stringent.

Legislators at every level in every state are working with Congressional lawmakers to try to balance the budget especially in the area of healthcare and human services. If some of the ideas that are being talked about by Congress actually take place it could actually help the country, the economy, the cities, counties, states and, most of all, the people who depend upon these benefits.

If you are a senior in a situation where you need help, contact your local Department of Aging, Social Security Office or Department of Human Services. They should be able to help or connect you with the people and programs who can.

To help employers save money when providing health care coverage to retirees, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF) is introducing BlueMedicare(SM) Group Supplement insurance plans. BlueMedicare Group Supplement is available to Medicare-eligible retirees, and their Medicare-eligible spouses who are 65 and older.

“This new option will help groups manage the rising health care costs for retiree coverage,” said Barbara Benevento, group vice-president, Senior Markets, BCBSF. “In this economy, it is important for us to provide lower cost solutions for employer groups so they can continue to offer coverage to their employees and retirees.”

Plans start as low as $125 per month and typically cover the deductibles, copayments, and 20 percent coinsurance Medicare does not cover for Medicare-approved expenses. To qualify, applicants must be 65 or older, enrolled in Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B, maintain their primary residence in Florida, and be eligible for their employer’s plan.

There is no network, so a BlueMedicare Group Supplement member can choose any doctor or hospital they want. Even when traveling throughout the United States their BlueMedicare Group Supplement coverage will follow. As long as Medicare approves the services, the plan will pay the remaining balance.

This new Medicare Supplement solution is an addition to the suite of BCBSF group retiree options, including BlueMedicare(SM) Group Rx prescription drug benefit and BlueMedicare(SM) Group PPO, HMO and PFFS plans. All BCBSF senior solutions offer increased savings and allow employers to meet the challenge of providing coverage to their Medicare-eligible retirees and dependents.

Celebrating 65 years as Florida’s leader in the health industry, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida is mission-driven to improve affordable access to health care. BCBSF is a not-for-profit, policyholder-owned, tax-paying mutual company. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., BCBSF is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. For more information concerning BCBSF, please see its Web site at www.bcbsfl.com or to listen to Floridians speak out on health care issues visit www.thepowerofthehumanvoice.com.

SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida