One of the byproducts of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act last year was a massive dislocation in the Medicare Advantage market. Medicare Advantage – also known as Medicare Part C – is an optional part of Medicare that allows beneficiaries to contract with managed care firms to administer their benefits under the Medicare program. The …
Read More »Buyer Beware: Traps to Avoid as Companies Rush Hybrid Long Term Care to Market
As companies race hybrid LTC or “linked-benefit” plans to market, many are left scratching their heads wondering which products are best for themselves or their clients. If a warning light is going off in your mind, heed the warning. There are five main traps to avoid while searching for the best hybrid-long term care solutions, though more will likely follow. …
Read More »LTC Planning Is Essential to Every Boomer’s Retirement
With millions of baby boomers approaching retirement, it is imperative for us to help this segment understand the potential financial impact of skyrocketing extended healthcare costs. The coverage this sector receives from Medicare is limited at best. Even if a qualifying event meets Medicare’s stringent guidelines, with both state and federal entitlement programs stretched to their breaking point, many retirees …
Read More »Medicare Recipients and Travel
Are Boomer clients aware that Medicare stops at the Border? The exposure to financial harm is high for anyone traveling outside the United States, especially for seniors who are on Medicare, since Medicare stops at the border except for limited circumstances. If your clients have a Medicare Supplement, there is some relief for emergency medical care, but that too has limits – they …
Read More »Disability Insurance: Don’t Forget the Non-Working Spouse!
"Let your clients work through the solutions. They are more likely to acknowledge a problem they “discover” themselves, through discussion, than they are if you just assert that the problem is there."
Read More »ObamaCare: What In Blazes is Going On?
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more popularly known as ObamaCare, is mired in the courts. A loose consortium of twenty-six state attorneys general filed a series of lawsuits challenging the courts constitutionality last year – and this year obtained a ruling from a federal judge in Tallahassee striking down the law as unconstitutional. The Obama administration plans to …
Read More »Met Leaves LTC Market, Hancock and Genworth Raise Rates
"Sustained low interest rates are to the long-term care industry what $4-a-gallon gas was to the SUV market." -Jesse Slome, American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance
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