The federal government threw in the towel on creating a public option for long-term care coverage last week, and that would seem to be definitive for now. In defeat, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was doing the right thing in admitting the concept’s flaws and cutting the government’s losses of the proposal, [...] [...more]
My column this month at Registered Rep magazine’s website explains how the new health reform law impacts retirement planning. It’s mostly good news, although high-income retirees face higher Medicare premiums. The story explains improvements in Medicare’s prescription drug benefit, how pre-65 retirees will gain important new coverage options, how Health Savings Accounts figure in the [...] [...more]
Can consumers fix what’s wrong with healthcare? Letting consumers call the shots is a central idea in the Medicare reform plan proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and adopted by the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. The GOP plan proposes replacing fee-for-service Medicare with a voucher that seniors would use to buy private health insurance on [...] [...more]
The new health-care reform law aims to cover nearly all Americans and to get our exploding national health-care tab under control. But reform also calls for some upfront investment, and someone needs to foot the bill. Rich retirees–it’s time to grab your wallets. Starting this year, the most affluent seniors are shouldering steep increases in [...] [...more]
One of the central ideas in the Medicare revamp proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) is that consumers can do a better job managing health care than bureaucrats. The House Budget Committee chairman hopes to replace fee-for-service Medicare with a voucher that seniors would use to buy private health insurance on a public insurance exchange. [...] [...more]
