Saturday, June 22, 2013

What Is Long-Term Care Insurance And Why Is It Important?

By B. Loughead

What Do We Mean By Long-Term Care Insurance?


Long-term care insurance is a specific insurance product in the United States that helps individuals pay for care costs that exceed a pre-set period of time. It is oftentimes abbreviated as LTC or LTCi. In any case, this type of insurance covers what health insurance, Medicaid, and Medicare typically do not including your assets in certain situations. The key advantage that this type of insurance provides is that it alleviates the burden of your children having to take care of you the rest of your life.

In most cases, it is provided to those individuals who can no longer perform those activities and tasks that are required in everyday life. This includes:

• adult day care
• Alzheimer's facilities
• assisted living
• hospice care
• nursing home facilities
• respite care (interim, short-term care occurring prior to being admitted to long-term care)

It can also pay for in-home care should that be needed and in most instances, from the first day that it is needed. It also pays for live-in or visiting:

• caregivers
• companions
• housekeepers
• private duty nurses
• therapists

Additionally, coverage up to the maximum policy benefit is provided 24/7. So as you can see, the coverage provided is very comprehensive.

Why Is Long-Term Care Insurance So Important?


It is extremely important because of the above benefits that it provides the policy holder. However, it provides additional benefits as well, including:

It helps cover out-of-pocket expenses so the individual does not have to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable about their children having to care for them. Savings accounts can be quickly depleted if an individual or his/her family has to pay for those long-term care expenses.

In some cases, the premiums paid for the policy can be deducted on the person's income taxes. The age of the individual determines the size of their income tax deduction. Plus, the benefits paid by the policy can be omitted from the person's gross income.

The amount of premium deductions for businesses is usually determined by the particular type of business. Those premiums are usually 100% deductible for the corporation paying them provided they have not included them in the taxable income of the employee.

Just remember that without long-term care insurance, you (or one of your children or other family members) will have to incur all your expenses (up to $70,000 annually for nursing home care). If you don't have Long-Term Care Insurance then what assets will you liquidate when you need care? What if you need that care for 2-4 years? We are living longer and with better quality of life, due to great medical advancement, which means you may just want help at home. Home care is growing and preferred in most cases. Most of us will want to live in our own home as long as possible. At some point it may make life easier and lengthen the number of years we can live at home by simply having long-term care benefits.

Summit Medigap is an independent insurance agency that specializes in Medicare supplement insurance and Long Term Care Insurance. We make Medicare seem easy™. For more information about Medicare supplement insurance or Long Term Care visit http://www.SummitMedigap.com/ or call us at 1-888-40-Summit (888-407-8664). We have helped many people in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Colorado and Michigan to name a few.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

The Benefits Of Having Good Dental, Hearing, And Vision Care

By B. Loughead
Although many people realize the importance of having a decent health care plan, there are other aspects that are oftentimes neglected because of the costs involved, especially for those individuals who are classified as seniors. You only have one set of permanent teeth, two ears, and two eyes to last you as long as you live, so the importance of good dental, hearing, and vision care cannot be over emphasized. Studies have shown that proper dental care can add as much as 8 years to a person's life, so you can easily see the importance of this issue.

What You Need To Know about Dental, hearing, and vision care


The actual Medicare plan does not cover dental, hearing, and vision care. However, you can purchase a policy to go along with your Medigap Supplement that will cover the following:

• cleanings & dental x-rays
• routine dental care, extractions & fillings
• fittings for hearing aids
• hearing aids
• routine vision screenings, glasses or contacts

A quality dental, vision & hearing plan will not have a network which means you can see any dentist you like. You should also get immediate coverage for exams and cleanings with no wait period. In addition, there are no health questions so everyone qualifies for the plan.
Most individuals purchase Medigap Insurance plans in order to cover the gaps in their basic Medicare coverage. As it currently stands, there are 12 different Medigap insurance plans to choose from, including Parts A and B, up to Plan N. In many cases, the gaps that are covered may include certain deductibles, co-insurances, and some of your co-payments. Coverage plans are all identical. However, the price you pay for them will vary from one insurance company to the next.

Basic Medigap Insurance Benefits

 

Just about anyone can purchase a Medigap Insurance plan. The plan provides additional benefits to a person's current coverage so that those unexpected health care expenses will be covered should they arise. However, they do not cover dental, vision and hearing so that is why it's a good idea to look into an additional policy for those benefits. Costs are determined by the amount of coverage that the individual needs. Most importantly, there are few if any restrictions associated with coverage qualifications. However, this does depend on the insurance company chosen.

One of the most important decisions that you will ever need to make may just involve selecting a Medigap insurance plan that addresses your specific needs and fits within your budget along with a quality dental, vision and hearing plan.

Summit Medigap is an independent insurance agency that specializes in Medicare supplement insurance. We make Medicare seem easy™. For more information about Medicare supplement insurance visit http://www.SummitMedigap.com/ or call us at 1-888-40-Summit (888-407-8664). We have helped many people in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Colorado and Michigan to name a few.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

What You Need To Know About Medicare Supplement Plan J

By B. Loughead

Should you keep your Medicare supplement Plan J or compare other plans?


Oftentimes referred to as Medigap Supplement Plan J, Medicare Supplement Plan J covers certain costs that are not covered in basic Medicare benefits coverage. Unfortunately, Plan J is no longer available (effective May 31, 2010). However, the plan will remain in effect for those individuals who were enrolled in it by the 1st of June, 2010.

What Does Plan J Cover?

As with any Medicare Advantage or Medigap Insurance plans, Plan J covered certain gaps in Medicare Part A and B coverages. This includes:

• at-home recovery
• care provided by skilled nursing facilities
• emergency care when traveling overseas
• excess Part B charges/expenses
• Medicare co-insurance (Part B)
• Part A and B deductibles
• up to $120 of preventative care that Medicare does not cover

What The Plan Does Not Cover

Unfortunately, there are certain health care issues that are not covered by Plan J (according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) including the following:

• dental care
• eyeglasses
• hearing aids
• long-term nursing home care
• private-duty nursing
• vision care

The bottom line is that the elimination of Plan J resulted from the need to modernize the entire Medicare Insurance infrastructure.

Elimination By Default

It has oftentimes been said that Plan J was simply eliminated by default because there were two benefits covered that were similar to the ones covered by Plan F. Plan F has oftentimes been considered the most comprehensive of all the MA/Medigap plans. The two specific benefits that set Plan J apart from Plan F are at-home recovery and preventative care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have eliminated these two coverages due to a lack of use. Therefore, Plan J was eliminated because of this duplication.

Additional Considerations

It is important to note that existing Plan J policy holders who are not affected by the above will be subject to what is referred to as a "closed block of business", meaning that no new policies will be offered after the June 1st eligibility date. There is considerable speculation that the rates for Plan J coverage are going to increase as a result of the above. Although this does make sense to some, the impact on current policy holders remains to be seen. It is a good idea for anyone who has Plan J to evaluate the current Medigap Plans available and compare the benefits and premiums to what they are currently paying. They may be surprised to learn they can save money and get comparable benefits to Plan J.

Summit Medigap is an independent insurance agency that specializes in Medicare supplement insurance. We make Medicare seem easy™. For more information about Medicare supplement insurance visit http://www.SummitMedigap.com/ or call us at 1-888-40-Summit (888-407-8664). We have helped many people in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Colorado and Michigan to name a few.

Summit Medigap Medicare Supplemental Insurance

Summit Medigap Medicare Supplemental Insurance
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