Posted on April 19, 2012 by Steve
The following is a guest post from Bud Hebeler
The Apr. 23/30, 2012 Newsweek has an article by Shannon Brownlee starting on page 46 about the little amount of time doctors can now spend with their patients. The average doctor has 2,300 patients. The average doctor spends 23 seconds listening to your problem before he/she interrupts and has less than 15 minutes to review test data, see the patient, write a prescription and update the records after the visit. In a test of 300 patient visits, the doctors spend only “1.3 minutes conveying crucial information about the patient’s condition and treatment, and most of the information they provided was far too technical for the average patient to grasp.” If a doctor had 2,000 patients, less than average, he/she “would have to spend more than 17 hours a day providing the recommended care.”
It’s going to get worse. Our population is aging quickly–and it’s the aged that use most of the medical care. The mandated reduction in Medicare payments to doctors is going to exacerbate the declining number of general practice physicians as will the ever diminishing number of medical school graduates in general practice who know they will be unable to pay several hundred thousand dollars of college loans on $150k a year. It doesn’t take a genius to know what’s going to happen when the number of patients increases and the number of primary doctors decreases. Costs will grow, ques will get longer, care quality will decline and emergency room use will expand greatly. Already, patients who are on Medicare know how difficult it is to find doctors who will take Medicare patients.
This morning’s newscasts said that the expiration of drug patents has reduced the production of key drugs for anesthesiology, cancer, heart disease and other illnesses. Most prescription drugs are imported and supplies are now so low that doctors must find alternatives–and the alternatives don’t seem as good or are slow in coming.
Welcome to our forthcoming medical care.
Bud
Content and tools regarding Medicare Supplemental insurance and a Medicare Supplemental insurance marketplace.
Posted on March 5, 2012 by Steve
Americans are gaining 1.1 years of life expectancy every five years -
This article does a good job of summarizing the costs faced by people and our society as we continue to extend life expectancies.
Today there are approximately 53,000 Americans who are age 100 or older, compared with just 2,300 in 1950.
Posted on January 27, 2012 by Erin
Got a million dollars for retirement? Think it’s enough? Think again. A million dollars sounds like a whole lot of money to most folks, and it is! But in today’s market, one million for your retirement fund simply may not cut it when you need your money to stretch for your entire retirement. Why? Let’s think about it.
The average lifespan of most people today is longer than any point in the past. Living to age 90 isn’t that unusual anymore, especially with modern medicine. If you retire at age 62 and live until age 90, that’s 28 years that you will need to fund. Where you live and the lifestyle you want to maintain can significantly increase the amount of money you will need for retirement. You also have to take into account the cost of medical care. Do you have long term care insurance to protect you in case of an unforeseen medical expense? One hospital stay has been known to throw many people into financial turmoil.
Social Security is unstable and is not enough to live on for many households. It’s never too late to start preparing for your retirement by looking into Annuities and Long Term Care Insurance as options to help protect yourself.
What’s your retirement savings goal? How far along are you and are you confident you will reach it? Let us know your thoughts!
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Posted on January 19, 2012 by Erin
Recently, the U.S. Government set a very ambitious goal of finding a way to treat Alzheimer’s by the year 2025. This is huge considering that over 5 million Americans suffer from the disease. How does the government plan on crushing Alzheimer’s? They’re calling for a blueprint of sorts on how to fight the disease. Unfortunately, there has been no new money allocated to the cause, so many are left wondering just how exactly the research that needs to be done in order to fight the disease is going to be paid for. Some say that the deadline is setting us up for failure but others don’t believe it to be aggressive enough. Something that everyone can agree on is that a cure for Alzheimer’s is greatly needed and it will be a wonderful day when a cure is discovered.
Are you and your family prepared for unexpected medical expenses? Protect yourself with Long Term Care Insurance.
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Posted on January 11, 2012 by Erin
Enjoying this test may depend on whether you’re a cup half full or empty person, but recently, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have come up with an assessment that determines when you have a good chance of dying. A little scary, but doctors are admitting that it’s a pretty good tool for them to use when determining the types of tests or medicines they use for elderly patients, or when a doctor is determining if a patient is ready for hospice care. Medicare requires that patients enter hospice when they have 6 months or less to live but with the way it is today, many patients enter when they have precious few days left to live.
The tool uses a formula that involves age and health conditions among others. Here is a link to take you to an interactive version of the tool. It is important to note that this tool is not something to self-diagnose yourself with. It is to be used by doctors and in no way should you alter your lifestyle without first speaking to your doctor. But it can be an interesting tool that can be used to better inform yourself about your health.
Does your test show you living forever? Is your retirement plan strong enough to support that?! Use our retirement calculator to see just how long your money will last you.
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Posted on January 9, 2012 by Erin
It’s something that many people don’t really think can happen but has become more common over the last few years – being laid off shortly before you retire. We like to think the chances of this happening are small due to the belief that it’s too outrageous, especially If you are one of those people that has put in many good years at a company. Who wants to think their employer would be so quick as to lay off someone just before retirement?
Unfortunately, it happens. The problems associated with losing your job before retirement age are numerous – are you too “old” to get a new job? Do you have too much experience and require too high of a salary? Will younger and cheaper candidates undercut you in the job race? Yet are you too young to receive Medicare or Social Security? Recently, the New York Times laid out some crafty ways that can help you survive, that you can read here.
Do you know anyone that this has happened to? What would be your plan if this happened to you?
If you were laid off today, how far would your money stretch? Find out by using our Retirement Calculator.
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Posted on January 6, 2012 by Erin
Yesterday we talked about the trend of parents moving in with their adult children. This trend will likely continue for some time and in many cases, the parent being home may create some extra work for the adult children. Many times if the parent needs medical care, the adult child is forced to take time away from work or cut back drastically on hours in order to care for their parent. This is why it’s important to point out that in some cases, the caretaker may be able to receive compensation.
Recently, AARP highlighted some different ways that children can receive financial compensation for the care of their parents. Much of it has to do with programs that are offered through the use of a Medicaid waiver. Of course, Medicaid is not the most cash rich program currently, so the hoops that need to be jumped through may be quite large. Another suggestion is to check the parent’s long-term care insurance policy, if they have it. Some policies allow for a cash benefit for the use of in-home assistance. And of course don’t forget – especially with tax time right around the corner – any deductible expenses the caregiver may have incurred to accommodate their parents needs. Wheelchair ramps, safety bars or even the gas used to drive the parent’s to their doctors appointments may be deductible.
Do you have long term care insurance to protect you? See how to select the best policy for you.
Will you be able to afford to stay in your home? Use our retirement calculator to see how your retirement plan shapes up and you can improve it.
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Posted on December 16, 2011 by Erin
When it comes to health, it seems like what is good for you one day is discovered to be bad for you the next. Recently, arguments against women getting mammograms have been picking up steam as some researchers believed it was not helping to find breast cancer and was instead creating unnecessary anxiety in the women who received them. The recommendation to not get mammograms seemed counter intuitive to many and recently a group of Dutch researchers at the department of public health In Rotterdam’s University Medical Center released a study that many are applauding.
Senior researcher Suzie Otto explained that, “Our study adds further evidence that mammography screening unambiguously reduces breast cancer mortality.” The researchers showed that women who received 3 mammograms before they were diagnosed with breast cancer, reduced their risk of dying from the disease by 49%. There was an 84% reduction in death in women ages 70 to 75. This is good news for women in the U.S. who have been sent mixed messages about this type of cancer screening. Many women have been discouraged from receiving mammograms because of the 2009 federal guidelines that called for less frequent screenings. What the Dutch study shows is that regular mammograms can reduce the risk of advanced breast cancer in women.
Plan for expected and unexpected medical costs. Use our retirement calculator to see how prepared you are.
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Posted on November 15, 2011 by Erin
It’s no secret that money can usually buy better medical coverage in our country. Better health care plans with better doctors who have access to better supplies and equipment can be taken advantage of if you have the money to spend. This is why it wasn’t all too shocking when the American Heart Association released results regarding seniors and their risk of heart failure. Seniors with low incomes (benchmark for low income equaling $25,000 a year or less) were found to develop a risk of heart failure at a greater rate than those with higher incomes, even if they had Medicare coverage. The study also took into account education levels, but the biggest influence was the senior’s income level.
It is a sad reality that many low-income seniors sometimes have to make the difficult decision between food and housing or their medications. And more often than not, food and housing win. The study was not published in a medical journal as of yet and was only presented at a medical meeting so the findings cannot yet be taken as concrete, but it’s not a far reach to understand why a senior who is forced to skip their heart medication for food could very easily increase their risk for any disease.
Need help increasing your retirement savings to avoid money pitfalls in the future? Try using our retirement calculator to see where you stand with your money.
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Posted on October 7, 2011 by Erin
In a study that came out earlier this week, it was found that a shockingly large number of surgeries are performed in the last year, month and week of a person’s life. This may make many people step back and ask if the surgeries that are being performed are necessary and if all of these surgeries are driving up the cost of medical care.
This study did only look at the numbers of reported deaths after surgery and not successful recoveries so the study may be a bit skewed. But it still brings up good questions. Have you ever experienced a situation where a doctor has wanted to perform unnecessary surgery on you to treat a symptom but not necessarily the problem? Do you think that by not practicing holistic medicine, doctors are not providing the best care that they can give to their patients?
Make sure you are prepared for any unforeseen medical problems. See if Long Term Care Insurance is right for you.
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