There is financial help to pay for some health care and prescription drug cost if you have limited income and resources.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
D-Day, as in Medicare Part D
There is financial help to pay for some health care and prescription drug cost if you have limited income and resources.
Posted by Gina at 17.10.07 0 comments
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Overseas retirement, is expat life for you?
In Ajijic, Mexico, a community near Guadalajara that's home to more than 3,000 expatriate Americans, where you can rent a sprawling three-bedroom, two-bath hacienda for about $700 a month.
In English-speaking Belize, where retirees don't have to pay taxes on the first $75,000 of income and where property taxes on a $500,000 home run about $90 a year.
In Spain, where the weather is good, health care is affordable and the rest of Europe is at your doorstep.
According to Money Central on MSN:
At a minimum, people who consider retirement abroad should be adventuresome, flexible, tolerant and patient, the expats I interviewed agreed.
Here are some other traits that come in handy:
You're willing to make new friends "The people who do well are couples who depend on each other a great deal," Halcomb said, "and who don't have a great sense of community or good friends they're going to miss terribly."
That's not to say you won't make new friends, particularly in areas that attract a lot of other foreign retirees.
"There are enough retired people here who are looking for friends and new acquaintances," said Chuck Svoboda, a former diplomat who retired to Spain's northern coast, "that there's no difficulty in building a fairly large circle of them in a short time."
Improved cell phone networks and Internet access also have made it easier for expats to stay in touch -- so much so, Svoboda grouses, that it sometimes "keeps people from enjoying what this country has to offer."
But you'll still be hundreds if not thousands of miles away from family and friends, who probably won't visit nearly as often as they would if you were still in the States. You may not mind watching a grandchild grow up in photos, but if you want to be there in person, overseas retirement probably isn't for you.
You're open to experiencing a new culture It seems obvious, but the rest of the world really isn't like the United States. Some people never adapt to the strangeness or to the notion that they'll always be foreigners, no matter how many other expats live in their chosen community.
You're not a Type A personality If you're the kind of person who gets impatient waiting in line at the post office, for example, then dealing with bureaucracies in other countries could drive you up a wall.
A simple banking transaction in Mexico can be an afternoon-long affair, while getting a phone installed in many countries can take months. Utilities and other bills often must be paid in person in countries with iffy postal systems -- and that means long periods standing in lines.
You have an exit strategy Regimes can change. Your health can decline. Prices can rise -- particularly if the tropical paradise you found gets discovered by lots of other ex-pats. (Of course, if you bought real estate there, it might be a good thing.)
Where are the Top 10 most desirable places outside of the US for seniors to retire?
So if you're thinking about settling down outside of the United States experts suggest you take care of some housekeeping at home before you check in at the international flights gate:
Get international health insurance.
Discuss with a financial planner the tax consequences of living outside the U.S.
Try out the new locale for three to six months. Experience the change in climate and different cultural events. Maybe it's too buggy in Central America for you or it rains in Ireland too much for your tastes.
Life's an adventure, I hope we can look further into the retiring abroad phenomenon in further posts.
Posted by Gina at 10.10.07 0 comments
Monday, October 8, 2007
You better shop around, uhuh!
Using newly released CMS data and its proprietary DataFrame(R) database, experts computed an "enrollment weighted" average premium for the Medicare Part D marketplace. Under this method, the premiums of plans with the most enrollees are assigned a heavier weight relative to plans with scant enrollment, giving a truer measure of the beneficiary experience. For example, a premium increase for a prescription drug plan (PDP) with 3 million enrollees carries vastly greater impact on more people than a premium increase for a plan with 10,000 enrollees.
Posted by Gina at 8.10.07 0 comments
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Look out Mel Fisher! or How everyday people have found treasures on Florida beaches.
On July 31st, 1715 a hurricane struck the Florida coast, sinking 10 of the 11 ships that made up the plate fleet of 1715. The plate fleets carried the Quinto, or royal fifth, a 20 percent tax on gold, silver and other valuables traded in new world.
The loss of the 1715 plate fleet was probably the largest loss of treasure at sea in all of maritime history.
A beachcomber named Kip Wagner, a resident of Sebastian Creek on the Florida coast, walking the shore after a major storm discovered a coral encrusted lump of coins, all dated 1714.
At the library of congress, Kelso found a book called A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida, by Bernard Romans. Written in 1775, only 60 years after the destruction of the plate fleet of 1715, Romans had visited Sebastian Creek and learned the exact location of the wrecked fleet from the natives who lived there:
"Opposite this river [Sebastian Creek], perished, the Admiral commanding the plate fleet of 1715, the rest of the fleet fourteen in number, between this and the bleach yard"
Armed with this new information, Kip Wagner took to the sea on an inflatable tire inner tube and immediately found the 1715 fleet, their cannon laid bare by the same storm that had washed up the clump of coins he had found on the beach.
After recruiting a team of divers (including a young Mel Fisher), salvage of the wrecks began in earnest, thousand of coins and artefacts worth countless millions of pounds were uncovered by Wagner's team.
Salvage operations continue at the site to this very day.
Posted by Gina at 4.10.07 0 comments
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Ten Overused Medical Tests and Treatments
— A new Consumer Reports investigation, published in the November issue, identifies 10 “Overused Tests and Treatments” and spells out how consumers can navigate a health-care system that rewards costly — and often unnecessary — tests and procedures and de- emphasizes preventive care.
The CR investigation identifies three main problems in the U.S. health- care system: unnecessary tests and treatments; costly new drugs that are often no better than the older, cheaper ones; and a glaring under-appreciation for preventive care. The investigation is the second in a series about health care. The theme of dysfunctional profit incentives was brought to light in the first installment, published in September, in which CR took note of the deteriorating ability of insurance companies to slow the growth of medical costs since 2000. The annual U.S. health-care bill, reports CR, has risen to $2 trillion, its highest point in history.Ten Overused Tests and Treatments
For consumers unfamiliar with the term “fee for service,” CR explains: Because the vast majority of doctors and hospitals are paid on a piecework basis, the more services they provide, such as blood tests, surgeries, MRIs, and CT scans, the more money they make. Experts estimate that the nation’s $2 trillion annual health-care tab is one-third to one-half higher than need be, in part because of overuse of expensive treatments and unnecessary care. CR’s overused tests and treatments are listed here, click
Posted by Gina at 2.10.07 0 comments
Medicare Gives Itself a Raise
Posted by Gina at 2.10.07 0 comments
Monday, October 1, 2007
How much will your Part D cost next year?
The premiums are going up for seniors and the disabled who are enrolled in the Medicare drug program.
The average cost will go up about 9 percent next year for stand-alone drug plans. That's according to information just released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
A private research firm that took a closer look at the information says most of the plans with the largest enrollment will increase their monthly premiums $5 to $10 a month. We will be finding the lowest price plans in our area and posting them. ASAP.
The open enrollment period is the period in which those eligible can sign up for or change their Medicare plans, including the Part D prescription drug program.
Among UniteHealth's offerings is a drug plan with no copay for generic drugs bought through preferred mail and plans carrying the AARP name. The company also said it is expanding is chronic illness special needs plans to 34 markets nationwide from seven.
Posted by Gina at 1.10.07 0 comments