We all take something for granted. Clean water, the love of a faithfull pet…even health insurance. For most of us, insurance has generally been available through our employers, so we don’t typically give it a second thought.
But with rising health care costs and a changing economy, some employers have had to drop insurance coverage, leaving [...]
Thirty years ago, cancer was a death sentence. Today, cancer remains a formidable foe, but survivors have battled back and are pushing the statistical trend toward the other direction. In fact, the five-year survival rate for all cancers diagnosed between 1996 and 2002 is 66 percent — that’s up 51 percent from 1977.1 Thanks to [...]
The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), best know for creating the new entitlement Part D for prescription drug coverage, also created the Medicare Advantage program. This allows private plans to offer replacement Medicare coverage with additional benefits on a voluntary enrollment basis. MMA also created a new category of Medicare Advantage plans known as [...]
Presidential candidates’ plans for health care reform
Now that the presidential race has narrowed to two candidates, it’s a good time to review where each of them stands on the issue of health care reform and what they intend to do about it. While Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain agree on many of the [...]
In 2002, a national study by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrated the direct link between a lack of health coverage and deaths from health-related causes. Drawing on that study, Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers, recently made available reports for all 50 states that show how many [...]
The first wave of baby boomers turn 62 this year and will begin claiming Social Security benefits. And, according to new research from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), many are confused about their post-retirement health insurance options, including their Medicare eligibility.The NAIC’s national survey of 377 baby boomers — Americans born between 1946 [...]