Home Health Care Patients With Chronic Conditions Are Having Trouble Getting Medicare Medicare is supposed to provide up to 35 hours a week of home care to those who qualify, but many Medicare patients with chronic conditions are being wrongly denied such care, according to Kaiser Health News. For a variety of reasons, many home health care agencies are simply telling patients they are not covered. Medicare is mandated to cover home health benefits indefinitely. In addition, Medicare is [...]

Two Popular Medigap Plans Are Ending. Should You Enroll While You Can? If you will soon turn 65 and be applying for Medicare, you should carefully consider which Medigap policy to enroll in because two of the most popular plans will be ending soon. In 2020, Medicare beneficiaries will no longer be able to enroll in Plans F and C. Between copayments, deductibles, and coverage exclusions, Medicare does not cover all medical expenses. Offered by private insurers, Medigap (or [...]

How Will the New Tax Law Affect You? While most of the new tax law has to do with reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, some provisions relate to individual taxpayers. Before we get into the details, be aware that almost everything listed below sunsets after 2025, with the tax structure reverting to its current form in 2026, unless Congress acts between now and then. The corporate tax rate cut, however, does not sunset. Here are the highlights for our readership:  [...]

Medicare Launches Hospice Compare Website Patients looking for hospice care can now get help from Medicare’s website. The agency’s new Hospice Compare site allows patients to evaluate hospice providers according to several criteria. The site is a good start, but there is room for improvement, experts say. Medicare's comprehensive hospice benefit covers any care that is reasonable and necessary for easing the course of a terminal illness. Medicare launched the hospice compare [...]

Medicare's Part B Premium Will Be Unchanged in 2018, But Many Will Pay More The announcement of the 2018 Medicare premium is good news for some beneficiaries and bad news for many others. The good news is that the standard monthly Part B premium, which about 30 percent of Medicare beneficiaries pay, will again be $134 next year, unchanged from 2017. But most Medicare recipients pay a lower premium because they have been protected from any increase in premiums when Social Security benefits [...]