Health Insurance Information » medicare

Health Insurance Information :Medigap Coverage rescues Pritella

admin — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 07:49:07 +0000

Seventy-six-year-old Pritella Pratt didn’t consider herself old until Bastille Day dawned. Her California Health Insurance agent, Mabel, provided coverage when all else failed. // Bastille Day falls on July 14th every year. Lately, septuagenarian Pritella Pratt felt like storming

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Seventy-six-year-old Pritella Pratt didn’t consider herself old until Bastille Day dawned. Her California Health Insurance agent, Mabel, provided coverage when all else failed.

Bastille Day falls on July 14th every year. Lately, septuagenarian Pritella Pratt felt like storming a few Bastilles herself, and she wasn’t even French. She did enjoy French salad dressing on her Romaine lettuce, and had eaten French fries, but that doesn’t count. But on Bastille Day, 2010, the French Independence Day, Pritella was in a hurry and tripped coming down some cement steps. She kept her balance, but it was Pritella’s pratfall nonetheless, as by evening of that day, several hours later, she felt a sharp nagging ache in her lower back. What was Pritella to do? She called Mabel, her beloved California Health Insurance agent (Mabel had also been her pinochle partner when her husband had been alive), to learn if her Medigap supplemental coverage was still in effect. “Yes indeedy,” Mabel said in her strange Irish brogue, “it is.” Medicare was great, but after Plan D of the Bush years, she didn’t know what to expect. She rushed out of her house, headed for her car, a Studebaker, and tripped, more seriously this time, a second pratfall. “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” she whispered as loudly as she could. Several more such vocalizations left Pritella feeling very old indeedy, and now her back was much worse. It was still Bastille Day, but almost dusk. A crow was cawing. Finally a good Samaritan named Sam came by, and helped Pritella to her Studebaker. Deep down the seventy-six-year-old felt a sprig of hope, like a probing tendril, because of Mabel’s affirmative words “Yes indeedy.” Those precious words were all that mattered now. Three blocks later, the urgent care center came into view. She could have walked there if it weren’t for her pratfalls. It was now dusk and a second crow cawed. Her back was killing her, perhaps literally as she didn’t know what was wrong. Feeling a surge of “old lady” adrenalin, she managed to open the glass doors, and walked into the health care facility. “I’ve got Medicare, and Medigap supplemental,” she proudly said when asked by the receptionist, and promptly fainted.

It turned out that she’d “ruptured something,” and she needed to go the hospital for observation. Waking up in her hospital bed, her first thoughts were of Mabel – and not the bill.

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Cheap Health Insurance :Harvard’s Jeff Miron on the Obama Health Insurance Proposal

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 02:26:28 +0000

Here is an article worth reading about the nature of health care expenses, how we make the decisions about what to spend and how much, and why having your own health insurance policy may mean that you are a better cost risk than someone on a government or employer’s plan:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/15/miron.health.costs/index.html
Jonathan

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Article Content:
Here is an article worth reading about the nature of health care expenses, how we make the decisions about what to spend and how much, and why having your own health insurance policy may mean that you are a better cost risk than someone on a government or employer’s plan:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/15/miron.health.costs/index.html

Jonathan Pletzke is a consumer expert on health insurance and author of the health insurance book Get a Good Deal on Your Health Insurance Without Getting Ripped-Off, available online and at bookstores nationally. Additional details can be found at the consumers health insurance book and resources website www.BestHealthInsuranceBook.com. Copyright 2007-2008 Aji Publishing.

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Cheap Health Insurance :Medicare: What’s Covered and What’s Not

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 02:26:28 +0000

Medicare can be confusing. There are a number of pieces to the Medicare puzzle, and understanding how they fit together and where there are gaps is important to knowing where Medicare coverage begins and ends. For the official U.S. Government perspective on Medicare, visit

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Medicare – What’s Covered and What’s Not
Medicare can be confusing. There are a number of pieces to the Medicare puzzle, and understanding how they fit together and where the gaps are is important to knowing where Medicare coverage begins and ends. For the official U.S. Government perspective on Medicare, visit the Medicare Options Compare website. Remember that Medicare is a financial tool and should be used with your own common sense to determine things you may also want above and beyond Medicare.

Pieces of the Medicare Puzzle
Medicare comes in four parts, with variations, and can be supplemented with other health insurance options purchased privately or from an employer retirement plan. The four parts of Medicare have evolved over time, and names have changed, too. They are now known as Part A (Hospitalization), Part B (Medical), Part C (Medicare Advantage), and Part D (Prescription). The other popularly known piece of the puzzle is Medigap, which is private insurance that supplements the other parts.

Part A: Hospitalization
If you end up in the hospital, you’re likely to have significant medical bills. Medicare Part A, hospitalization insurance, is intended to help you reduce your liability for those charges that occur when you are in a hospital, a skilled nursing facility, or hospice, along with some home health care expenses.

View an Instructive Diagram of Medicare Part A Coverage

What is and is not payable under the plan is always changing – new items are added regularly, and things that you might have had last year may no longer be covered. You should check with your provider to determine what they believe is covered – and hold them to it. If in doubt about coverage of specific items, check with the Medicare Coverage website.

Jonathan Pletzke is a consumer expert on health insurance and author of the health insurance book Get a Good Deal on Your Health Insurance Without Getting Ripped-Off, available online and at bookstores nationally. Additional details can be found at the consumers health insurance book and resources website www.BestHealthInsuranceBook.com.

This post originally appeared at HealthCentral.com at http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/29443/medicare-covered

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