Premiums for many popular Medicare prescription drug plans will soar next year – but seniors don’t have to take the rate hikes lying down.
Posts Categorized: Elder Care
What you don’t know about Medicare can cost you
Your status as “inpatient” versus “under observation” while in a hospital can make a world of Medicare difference.
4 Steps to Prevent Back Pain
Commonsense advice about taking care of your back.
Who’s on First?
Not knowing the language of estate planning can put you in the middle of a not-so-funny situation.
Whistleblower Lawsuit Alleges that Hospice Fraudulently Used as Profit Center
A national hospice company improperly cycled patients through nursing homes and hospice with a goal of making as much profit as possible from Medicare, according to a whistleblower lawsuit announced in early January.
Who Has the Right to Make Medical Decisions For You?
The name Terri Schiavo is synonymous with what can go wrong if you do not have an advance health-care directive. Talk with your loved ones and your estate planning professionals about how to make sure you don’t end up sharing Terri’s fate.
Respite care can be a life saver
If you are a caretaker for someone else, please be sure to take care of yourselff, too.
Joint bank accounts can be a bad idea
Think twice before you put somebody else’s name on on your bank accounts. Using trusts or powers of attorney can give you the flexibility you want without exposing your assets to unnecessary risk.
From The New York Times (April 19, 2011) “Guidelines Allow Earlier Definition of Alzheimer’s”
For the first time in 27 years, the definition of Alzheimer’s disease is being recast in new medical guidelines that reflect fast-mounting evidence that it begins ravaging the brain years before the symptoms of dementia.
From The Associated Press (April 7, 2011) “Social Security Stopped Mailing Earning Statements”
Those yearly statements that Social Security mails out — here’s what you’d get if you retired at 62, at 66, at 70 — will soon stop arriving in your mailbox. It’s part of an effort to save money and steer more people to the agency’s website, which is worth checking out.