Category: Medicare

Health Insurance, Medicare

Older Americans Say They Feel Trapped in Medicare Advantage Plans.

January 5, 2024

Medicare pays private insurers a fixed amount per Medicare Advantage enrollee and in many cases also pays out bonuses, which the insurers can use to provide supplemental benefits. Those extra benefits work as an incentive to get people to join the plan but that the plans then restrict the access to so many services and coverage for the bigger stuff.”

Health Insurance, Medicare

Medicare enrollment begins October 15

October 4, 2023

Did you know you have choices in your Medicare prescription drug and health coverage? Medicare’s Open Enrollment Period (October 15 – December 7) is your chance to think about what matters most to you. Plans can change from year to year, and your health needs may change, too. So it’s important to know your options.

Farm in Maine in Autumn. Woods with fall colors.
Health Costs, Health Insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, Rural Health

‘Grotesque Catch-22’ – Sickest Rural Adults Are the Least Likely to Be Able to Pay for Healthcare

May 12, 2023

Research on cost barriers to health care found that rural adults were more likely than urban adults to report being unable to pay their medical bills or have problems paying their medical bills. Rural adults also were more likely to use medications in ways not prescribed (like taking pills every other day or only filling prescriptions every other month) to save money on medication.

Aging, Law, Medicaid, Medicare, Seniors

Supreme Court Case Could Curtail Rights of Medicaid Patients

November 28, 2022

Twenty-two Republican-leaning states have urged the Supreme Court to block beneficiaries of federal safety net programs from suing. If the court agrees participants in many federal entitlement programs could lose the right to go to court when they believe a state, city or county has violated their rights in the administration of those programs.

Photo of the arm of an elderly man sitting in a wheelchair.
Aging, Medicare, Palliative Care

Endgame: How the Visionary Hospice Movement Became a For-Profit Hustle

November 28, 2022

It might be counterintuitive to run an enterprise that is wholly dependent on clients who aren’t long for this world, but companies in the hospice business can expect some of the biggest returns for the least amount of effort of any sector in American health care. Medicare pays providers a set rate per patient per day, regardless of how much help they deliver. Since most hospice care takes place at home and nurses aren’t required to visit more than twice a month, it’s not difficult to keep overhead low and to outsource the bulk of the labor to unpaid family members — assuming that willing family members are at hand.