Medicare is a life saver—quite literally—for millions of retired Americans. In place since 1965, Medicare guarantees healthcare insurance to Americans age 65 and older who have worked a minimum of 40 quarters (10 years) as well as individuals with end stage renal disease and disabled individuals under age 65. Medicare …
Improvements to Medicare under the Affordable Care Act
The passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2009 resulted in some improvements to Medicare coverage, including preventive care coverage and drug coverage. Here are the changes in more detail: Drug Coverage– Beginning January 1, 2011, individuals who reach the gap of Part D prescription drug coverage automatically get a …
What is Blue Shield of California?
Blue Shield of California is a non profit organization offering affordable health insurance and Medicare plans for individuals, families, seniors, and employers. In addition to medical coverage and Medicare supplement plans, Blue Shield also offers dental and vision plans to meet every customer’s needs in terms of pricing and quality …
Understanding HIPAA’s Privacy Rule
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), pronounced “Hip-Uh,” is a law that was introduced in 1996 to protect patient privacy as well as limit exclusions for pre-existing condition, provide patients with guaranteed renewal of health insurance policies, and require that patients be given the right to continue group …
Understanding Lumenos Coverage and Plans
Selecting the right healthcare coverage is not exactly easy. There are so many different providers and so much to understand – and it is not necessarily written for the average person. The Lumenos plans from Blue Cross of California seek to make the healthcare coverage process a little bit easier …
Understanding a Health Insurance Exchange
The latest headlines have been full of news about the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Under this act comes the formation of the health insurance exchange. The average person may not understand the purpose of these exchanges – understanding is the first step to utilizing …
When You Retire You May Find That Blue Cross Medicare Gap Coverage Becomes Very Important
With the cost of medical care continuing to spiral upwards at incredible rate and the federal government continuing to cut back on how much Medicare is going to cover, you are going to find that unless you have your own supplemental insurance that you will be paying a lot of …
In California Medigap Insurance Is There to Protect You
We spend all of our lives paying our Medicare taxes assuming that when we retire, we are going to be able to see a doctor and get the medical care we need, when we need it. Unfortunately we have been laboring under a false assumption. The simple truth is that …
Understanding Exactly What the Freedom Blue Insurance Plan Is
For those that have heard the name Freedom Blue, but are not sure exactly what it is, this is a Medicare Advantage PPO health insurance policy that is available through Blue Cross in California. This is in essence a form of Medicare gap insurance intended to cover the gaps in …
Health Insurance In California That You Can Afford
There are thousands of families looking for health insurance in California that are not covered by their company policies as well as many seniors that are searching for gap insurance to cover what Medicare does not pay. These people need insurance that is not only going to cover their needs …