The 2016 Edition of Maximize Your Medicare is available NOW. Is a new edition really necessary? Yep.
Subscribe to the Maximize Your Medicare Podcast click HERE.
Subscribe to the Maximize Your Medicare Podcast click HERE.
Showing posts with label Medigap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medigap. Show all posts
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
MYM Podcast 37: Medigap Affected by the Doc Fix
Medigap Plan C and Plan F will be eliminated in 2020. This was predicted in the book, and some other observations, because the way that people can think about their
Subscribe to the Maximize Your Medicare Podcast click HERE.
Subscribe to the Maximize Your Medicare Podcast click HERE.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
MYM Podcast 33: Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period Ends Feb 14
You can disenroll in Medicare Advantage, but time is running out....
Monday, November 3, 2014
MYM Podcast 29: Radio Interview, Annual Election Period Edition
Radio Interview, Annual Election Period
I have been doing a lot of radio interviews recently, New York, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, et al. Art Lewis and I have spent over 6, 1-hour sessions together. Our latest was this past Saturday, and we discussed the Annual Election Period.
I have been doing a lot of radio interviews recently, New York, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, et al. Art Lewis and I have spent over 6, 1-hour sessions together. Our latest was this past Saturday, and we discussed the Annual Election Period.
Listen to the podcast here.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Thursday, December 26, 2013
MYM Podcast 7: Can I Still Sign Up for Medicare Part B (Yes) and....
Let's Say You Never Enrolled in Medicare Part B
Let's Say You May Want to Switch from Medicare Advantage to Medigap.
Your time is coming up soon, January 1, 2014. You don't have that much time to decide, so it is best that you know your options beforehand. You can listen to details here.
Subscribe to the MYM Podcast:
iTunes
Everything else
Let's Say You May Want to Switch from Medicare Advantage to Medigap.
Your time is coming up soon, January 1, 2014. You don't have that much time to decide, so it is best that you know your options beforehand. You can listen to details here.
Subscribe to the MYM Podcast:
iTunes
Everything else
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
MYM Podcast 6: Can I Still Change Medicare Coverage Now?
Surprise: The Rules Work For You, Not Against
People keep the age-old thought that they have to use the Annual Election Period only in order to make changes to their Medicare configurations. Nope. The reality is that you have options under the current rules, and in some situations, it is highly favorable to do so. MYM Podcast 6 tells you about some ways that you can make a change even after the Medicare Annual Election Period is over, with a few examples included.
Click here to listen.
Subscribe to the MYM Podcast:
iTunes
Everything else
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
MYM Podcast 2: Annual Election Period Ending Soon
This episode focuses on what to do during Medicare Annual Election Period, which ends on Midnight, December 7th. That is this Saturday. Click here to listen.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Medicare ABCs LIVE Webinar
Monday, August 29th, 11:00AM (EST)
Some people would rather have a verbal explanation, because a book may create followup questions. Some people don't know where to begin to ask. I wrote Maximize Your Medicare to address this, and the audience is enormous: more than 9,000 will turn 65 everyday in the United States. This will continue for most of the next 2 decades.
You Can Ask Me Questions LIVE
I will go through Medicare and explain its components. I will explain how it differs from health insurance that many have been used to. I have done so at libraries, senior centers, and on talk radio shows. I have heard and seen the level of uncertainty on people's faces and in their voices. Adult-age children need to have this information: you get pulled into the situation, and usually (unfortunately), under unfavorable circumstances. Caregivers face questions continuously regarding what Medicare covers, and what it does not.
Money Back Guaranteed
At $3.99, it is inconceivable (to me, I am biased) that you will not get your money back. There will be information that is not widely known, until it may be too late. Frequently, this could have been avoided. In any case, if you join the Webinar, and find that it isn't worth the $3.99, then I will refund your money. Guaranteed.
Some people would rather have a verbal explanation, because a book may create followup questions. Some people don't know where to begin to ask. I wrote Maximize Your Medicare to address this, and the audience is enormous: more than 9,000 will turn 65 everyday in the United States. This will continue for most of the next 2 decades.
You Can Ask Me Questions LIVE
I will go through Medicare and explain its components. I will explain how it differs from health insurance that many have been used to. I have done so at libraries, senior centers, and on talk radio shows. I have heard and seen the level of uncertainty on people's faces and in their voices. Adult-age children need to have this information: you get pulled into the situation, and usually (unfortunately), under unfavorable circumstances. Caregivers face questions continuously regarding what Medicare covers, and what it does not.
Money Back Guaranteed
At $3.99, it is inconceivable (to me, I am biased) that you will not get your money back. There will be information that is not widely known, until it may be too late. Frequently, this could have been avoided. In any case, if you join the Webinar, and find that it isn't worth the $3.99, then I will refund your money. Guaranteed.
$3.99 Medicare ABCs Live Video Webinar
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Responding to the Reviews
Dialogue Please
"They" say you are not supposed to respond to reviews, positive or negative. "They" are usually wrong. At the risk of rubbing someone the wrong way, here goes.
"Best guide out there." "First strategic book." "Well worth the money."
These were the objectives. These are the objectives. These will be the objectives. I priced the book for the everyday reader, well below its financial value, well below the price of other books that "explain" Medicare. I wrote it with scenarios to illustrate the effects, both intended and unintended. If you want to accept risk on your own, I am not against this. You may have good reason, and it isn't my role to tell you what to do. My role in this discussion is to lay out the choices clearly, so that you are not surprised by the results of the risks that you unintentionally take, if and when they occur. I wrote this book to help a senior (and his/her family) avoid the consequences that he/she did not intend, or did not understand in advance.
"Preachy"
This is a description that I did not expect. If anything, I haven't even come close to describing what can happen if you ignore the information in the book. Let me put it simply: bankruptcy is a real possibility if you leave Medicare alone unchecked, become ill, and require extensive medical treatment with prescriptions. If you live alone, with no family, then that may be fine since you will be the only person to experience the consequences. For the remainder, it is now your vocation to know Medicare. Period. My part of this covenant? I guarantee that a reader will recover the price of the book, every year. Send me the book back, and I will donate the copy to a group that will benefit, and I will refund your money. Myself.
"Not Much New"
If you are experienced in Medicare matters, and have knowledge of all the options, and can compare them side-by-side, with family scenarios in mind, then you are right. This book is not for you. The preface to the book is "I know everything there is to know about Medicare. Said by no one." If you are that 0.01%, then send me the book back, and I will donate the copy to a group that will benefit, and I will refund your money. Myself.
"Don't Buy the Kindle Version"
You need to read the beginning of the book. It is quite clear: I advised readers to READ THE GLOSSARY FIRST. It is a fact of life that there is specialized language in every profession or practice. Ask a lawyer, ask a physician, ask a plumber: jargon is everywhere. The reviewer does admit that the terms are explained. When technology improves on ebooks generally, you will be able to click on a word, and up will come the definition from the glossary. We are not there yet. We will be in the future.
"Incomplete"
I cannot comment on certain practices in certain states. I should not comment on services by governmental agencies, or groups funded by the government. If you didn't see the news at all over the past two weeks, the government is watching, to put it mildly. Kidding aside, this is not a political book with political aims. For that you can read the Obamacare Survival Guide. Most importantly: even when rules apply, you can get inconsistent answers from governmental agencies. I have dealt with the situation on behalf of my professional clients, and it takes a long time and persistence to undo this type of situation. The book only comments on the most blatant cases. This is intentional. If you believe that there is an omission that could benefit future readers, email me please!
Help me
If I knew then what I know now about book publishing, Maximize Your Medicare would not exist at all, for better or worse. Indiegogo is a platform for crowdsourcing, and is used to raise money to be used for objectives. My objective? Overcome hurdles inherent in book distribution. You most likely found the book on amazon.com or at your local library. In other words, there are many, many others out there that require this information, and I need to reach them. And I need your help. $10,000 sounds like a lot, and it is. Candidly, it is about 50% of what is required to do the job correctly. That is how high the barriers to entry are for a single book. There is a very low probability of recovering this amount, given that it is as $10 book, and there are middlemen everywhere. So, if you found the book helpful, or acknowledge that there are countless others that would benefit, please help me by clicking on the widget below.
"They" say you are not supposed to respond to reviews, positive or negative. "They" are usually wrong. At the risk of rubbing someone the wrong way, here goes.
"Best guide out there." "First strategic book." "Well worth the money."
These were the objectives. These are the objectives. These will be the objectives. I priced the book for the everyday reader, well below its financial value, well below the price of other books that "explain" Medicare. I wrote it with scenarios to illustrate the effects, both intended and unintended. If you want to accept risk on your own, I am not against this. You may have good reason, and it isn't my role to tell you what to do. My role in this discussion is to lay out the choices clearly, so that you are not surprised by the results of the risks that you unintentionally take, if and when they occur. I wrote this book to help a senior (and his/her family) avoid the consequences that he/she did not intend, or did not understand in advance.
"Preachy"
This is a description that I did not expect. If anything, I haven't even come close to describing what can happen if you ignore the information in the book. Let me put it simply: bankruptcy is a real possibility if you leave Medicare alone unchecked, become ill, and require extensive medical treatment with prescriptions. If you live alone, with no family, then that may be fine since you will be the only person to experience the consequences. For the remainder, it is now your vocation to know Medicare. Period. My part of this covenant? I guarantee that a reader will recover the price of the book, every year. Send me the book back, and I will donate the copy to a group that will benefit, and I will refund your money. Myself.
"Not Much New"
If you are experienced in Medicare matters, and have knowledge of all the options, and can compare them side-by-side, with family scenarios in mind, then you are right. This book is not for you. The preface to the book is "I know everything there is to know about Medicare. Said by no one." If you are that 0.01%, then send me the book back, and I will donate the copy to a group that will benefit, and I will refund your money. Myself.
"Don't Buy the Kindle Version"
You need to read the beginning of the book. It is quite clear: I advised readers to READ THE GLOSSARY FIRST. It is a fact of life that there is specialized language in every profession or practice. Ask a lawyer, ask a physician, ask a plumber: jargon is everywhere. The reviewer does admit that the terms are explained. When technology improves on ebooks generally, you will be able to click on a word, and up will come the definition from the glossary. We are not there yet. We will be in the future.
"Incomplete"
I cannot comment on certain practices in certain states. I should not comment on services by governmental agencies, or groups funded by the government. If you didn't see the news at all over the past two weeks, the government is watching, to put it mildly. Kidding aside, this is not a political book with political aims. For that you can read the Obamacare Survival Guide. Most importantly: even when rules apply, you can get inconsistent answers from governmental agencies. I have dealt with the situation on behalf of my professional clients, and it takes a long time and persistence to undo this type of situation. The book only comments on the most blatant cases. This is intentional. If you believe that there is an omission that could benefit future readers, email me please!
Help me
If I knew then what I know now about book publishing, Maximize Your Medicare would not exist at all, for better or worse. Indiegogo is a platform for crowdsourcing, and is used to raise money to be used for objectives. My objective? Overcome hurdles inherent in book distribution. You most likely found the book on amazon.com or at your local library. In other words, there are many, many others out there that require this information, and I need to reach them. And I need your help. $10,000 sounds like a lot, and it is. Candidly, it is about 50% of what is required to do the job correctly. That is how high the barriers to entry are for a single book. There is a very low probability of recovering this amount, given that it is as $10 book, and there are middlemen everywhere. So, if you found the book helpful, or acknowledge that there are countless others that would benefit, please help me by clicking on the widget below.
Monday, March 4, 2013
PPACA and Medicare
PPACA and Medicare
As it currently stands, provisions of the PPACA will make Medicare selections more transparent. As a general statement, this is true. In addition, there will apparently be limits to the out-of-pocket expenses under Medicare. Overall, these are positives for the Medicare beneficiary. Now for the flip side of that coin.
Unintended Consequences
Transparency will appear in the form of "tiers," i.e. there will be Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze. Alternatives will be categorized by using a notion which can be thought of covering a particular % (let's call it X%) of a person's total medical costs. The most important concept here is that it this "X%" is ON AVERAGE. What does this mean? It means that your specific situation may be covered by less than average, and that your out-of-pocket expenses may exceed projections. It is a virtual guarantee that beneficiaries misunderstand this concept today, and will do so in the future. Please note: this is the case now with Medicare Advantage plans, i.e. the specific benefits that you receive under your Medicare Advantage plan can be, in fact, worse than original Medicare under your very specific situation. That is because the Medicare Advantage plan has, overall, been ruled by the CMS as being at least as good as original Medicare. This is a subtle, but important, concept.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Maximize Your Medicare Android App
We All Need to Help the Seniors in Our Lives
Your parents are more confused and worried than they are telling you. Ask the billing office of almost any medical provider; I GUARANTEE that they will say that patients do not understand how Medicare works. Now, on Google Play (and soon on Amazon Appstore), Maximize Your Medicare is an Android app that costs only $0.99.
You Enter Info, You Get Answers and Suggestions
Anyone can use the app. You enter your date of birth, and you will get the vital information: important dates, and when you need to enroll. You answer some specific questions. You can a list of important factors to consider. You can also directly to the offical Medicare site to make a selection if you would like.
Written For Those That Have a Senior in His/Her Life
Parent, aunt/uncle, grandparent: we all know someone whose life is affected by Medicare. If you don't know, that is because you have not asked. Go to McDonald's sometime, and eat there for 45 minutes. It is a certainty that seniors there are talking about health and health insurance.
Help Your Senior Age Gracefully
Maximize Your Medicare, the book and the app, have this goal in mind. We cannot control everything. The politics, the fiscal backdrop, and the demographic reality are beyond any single person's control. Maximize Your Medicare allows the senior in your life gain control of the things that he/she can, and not be worried due to the fact they are confused. Small price to pay: $0.99 for the app to get started down that path.
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