According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the part of the Medicare program that provides recipients with the ability to select their own private insurance have seen a drop in their premiums by an average of 7 percent, and there has been an increase in enrollment by 10 percent. According to Kathleen Sebelius, a Health and Human Services secretary, this has been an ongoing trend for Medicare Advantage system, which helps to work against the negative forecasts that have been made by those in opposition to the health…
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With Thanksgiving and Black Friday over, the Medicare deadline is the next big date
With the Thanksgiving turkey eaten and Black Friday’s discount-hunting madness behind them, consumers have started to use the final two weeks left for open Medicare enrollment to do their last minute insurance shopping. Senior citizens are now starting to run out of time for choosing a new Medicare prescription drug or Advantage plan if they want to alter their current coverage. The deadline for Medicare’s open enrollment has been moved to December 7 from its traditional December 31 as a result of the 2010 federal healthcare laws. The reason for…
Read MoreOver half of seniors using exchange for private Medicare plan to reevaluate in 2011 AEP
A survey that included the participation of 372 seniors who have previously bought private supplemental Medicare plans showed that 58 percent are now using the 2011Medicare Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) to rethink their insurance needs. When the seniors were asked why they were reevaluating their plans, the top three reasons were: • 45 percent wanted to make certain that they were receiving the best coverage for their needs • 19 percent had experienced an increase in premiums • 9 percent had experienced an increase in out-of-pocket expenses. Another 35 percent…
Read MoreLearning more about healthcare and open enrollment for Medicare
The Medicare open enrollment period is already well underway, as is the healthcare enrollment for people who receive health insurance from their employers and individuals who haven’t yet gone over their current coverage package for 2012 are being advised to hurry up and get started. For those individuals who haven’t yet missed their window of opportunity for changes in employer-sponsored insurance, the sooner they have a look at their current health insurance and compare it to what is available, the better, because any changes that are made by employers or…
Read MoreStandard & Poor’s reports cost of Medicare increasing at its slowest rate in over half a decade
According to data recently released by Standard & Poor’s, over the last year, the revenue increase for hospitals resulting from Medicare patients was about one third over what had been seen from patients who are covered by some form of private health insurance. The S&P Healthcare Economic Index showed that the revenue from Medicare increased by 2.5 percent per hospital patient before June 2011, which is the slowest increase since January 2005, when S&P’s first started to monitor this income. That said, the revenue generated from patients who were covered…
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