Is “Guaranteed Coverage for Life” in the Cards for Medicare Seniors?
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | May 1, 2013 | Trudy Lieberman
A few days ago, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield sent me one of those Medigap sales brochures that seniors usually expect during the fall open enrollment season.

Making Seniors on Medicare Have More Skin in the Game
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | March 26, 2013 | Trudy Lieberman
The movement is growing, it seems, for making people who rely on Medicare have more skin-in-the-game. In the minds of some, seniors and the disabled pay too little for their health care and their Medicare benefits…

The Government Wants Seniors Out of Bad Medicare Plans
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | December 5, 2012 | Trudy Lieberman
Even though open enrollment closes this week for some 47 million seniors who can change their Medicare coverage arrangements for next year, the federal government is extending the deadline for certain people. Who are the lucky ones?

Trolling for Insurance Prospects on Twitter
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | September 18, 2012 | Trudy Lieberman
Selling health insurance on Twitter? Yes indeed. Not long ago a simple tweet about a blog called Medicare Made Clear alerted me to this new way to find sales prospects for Medicare Advantage Plans and Medigap policies

More Confusion about Those Insurance EOBs'This Time from Medicare
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | June 6, 2012 | Trudy Lieberman
People have a right to receive in plain language a summary of what doctors bill, what insurers pay and how much they themselves must pay.

'Death Panels': Beliefs and Disbeliefs in Health Care
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | May 23, 2012 | Trudy Lieberman
Virginia was particularly concerned that she would not get medical treatment after she turns 75. She had heard at that age, 'they send you a letter. They are going to start sending you literature on death.'

Medicare Games: When Is a Stay in the Hospital Really a Stay?
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | March 21, 2012 | Trudy Lieberman
If you or a family member is on Medicare, you would assume that if they are in the hospital their care would be covered under Medicare's Part A hospital benefit. Right? Well, not always.

What Consumers Don't Know About Their Health Insurance
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | February 7, 2012 | Trudy Lieberman
On a chilly New York day, a sales agent for UnitedHealthcare stood on a noisy street corner in Spanish Harlem pushing Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. He was engaging in table marketing a way to snag new customers, converts from other MA plans, he hoped.

Who Gets Preventive Care?
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | December 19, 2011 | Trudy Lieberman
Who doesn't think preventive health care is important? Probably nobody if you ask this question abstractly. But when it comes to getting it - well that's a different matter.

Turning 65: A Medicare Snafu
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | September 13, 2011 | Trudy Lieberman
I didn't expect to write a sequel to my seven-part series about signing up for Medicare. Just when I thought I was on the program, and all was fine, it wasn't. After I submitted two bills for routine exams, I learned Medicare would not cover them as my primary carrier. That threw me into a tizzy. All my years of reporting about the program taught me that once you retire Medicare is primary.

Hit by the Fine Print: Three Ways the Debt Deal Could Hurt Seniors on Medicare
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | August 2, 2011 | Trudy Lieberman
Medicare turned 46 last week, but instead of celebrating its major accomplishment ' keeping millions of older Americans healthy ' it finds itself under siege.

Turning 65: Medicare's Future and Me
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | July 14, 2011 | Trudy Lieberman
I once thought that when I signed up for Medicare, I would never again have to worry about paying for health care. But I will. Medicare's future shape and substance is uncertain.

Turning 65: Making the Choice
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | June 21, 2011 | Trudy Lieberman
Even though I have written about Medicare for many years, it wasn't until I actually went through the process of selecting an option to cover Medicare's gaps that I realized seniors have an extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, task. You can't make a perfect decision because so much depends on your future medical needs and no one can predict those with certainty.

Turning 65: Finding a Medicare Advantage Plan
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | June 6, 2011 | Trudy Lieberman
Ah, those Medicare Advantage (MA) plans! The government can't seem to decide if it loves or hates them. On the one hand, when I tried to learn about my options, there was much more MA plan information available from the government than for traditional Medigap policies. So it seemed like I was being encouraged to select an MA plan.

Turning 65: Finding a Prescription Drug Plan
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | May 23, 2011 | Trudy Lieberman
If I were to choose a Medigap policy to supplement my basic Medicare coverage, I would still have to buy a separate plan for prescription drugs, since Medigap sellers can't include drug benefits in those policies.

Medicare Spending Linked to Longer Life, Better Health in Elderly
HBNS STORY | May 23, 2011
Findings of a new study suggest that cutting Medicare spending across the board could result in poorer health outcomes for the elderly.

Turning 65: Finding a Medigap Policy
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | May 12, 2011 | Trudy Lieberman
The first step after reading my collection of Medicare Advantage, prescription drug, and Medigap sales brochures was to find a way to fill in core Medicare coverage gaps'the deductibles for hospital stays and doctor care and the coinsurance for physician visits, lab tests, and hospital outpatient treatment that could really leave me with an unwelcome bill. I would have to pay 20 percent of those bills if I didn't have supplemental coverage.

Turning 65: The Sellers Were After Me
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | April 28, 2011 | Trudy Lieberman
Even before I officially signed up for Medicare, sellers of Medicare Advantage plans, prescription drug benefits and Medigap policies began stuffing my mailbox with marketing brochures and lead cards'the kind that ask for your name and address and tell you that a salesperson will call if you return the card. Since the first of the year, I have received five lead cards asking for personal information, four solicitations for Medicare Advantage plans, two for stand-alone drug plans and three for Medigap insurance.

Turning 65: It Was Time for Medicare
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | April 11, 2011 | Trudy Lieberman
This is the first in a series of posts that examine the process of signing up for Medicare, navigating its rules, choosing supplemental coverage and planning for health care in a program with a very uncertain future.

Selling Sickness
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | January 21, 2011 | Trudy Lieberman
Someone I know who is just over 65 received an unlikely solicitation'from The Scooter Store located in New Braunfels, Texas, on Independence Drive no less. The outside of the envelope promised a free personal mobility assessment. This person is totally mobile and hardly needs a scooter.

Inside Health Care: Are Patients 'Priceless?'
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | December 23, 2010 | CFAH Staff
An inside look at the cost of health care: a physician confused by the transparency of Medicare reimbursements and a patient in San Francisco unable to afford treatment for an enlarged prostate.

Assessing Risk: Medicare Advantage vs. Medigap vs. Drug Coverage Only
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | December 22, 2010 | Trudy Lieberman
As Medicare's open enrollment season draws to a close, it's a good bet that seniors are still sifting through all those brochures and flyers that have come in the mail the last several weeks. My husband received 22. Here's a simple rule to make the sifting go a little faster.

Finding a Medigap Policy on the Web? Better Think Twice
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | December 10, 2010 | Trudy Lieberman
Oh, those clever insurance agents, always on the prowl for new customers. This time they are using the current period of open enrollment for Medicare to snag customers for other insurance products'products that consumers may not need or want.

The Medicare Sales Season Begins: As Always, Buyer Beware!
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | October 7, 2010 | Trudy Lieberman

What Happens When an Insurance Company Misbehaves
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | July 12, 2010 | Trudy Lieberman

Is Choosing a Health Plan Like Buying a Car or Canned Goods?
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | June 21, 2010 | Trudy Lieberman
Do consumers buy health insurance like they buy canned peas? Or should they? That's the big question market place advocates have been trying to answer now for more than a decade. The government and others have thrown gobs of money at this vexing problem trying to figure out the best combination of stars, bars and other symbols that will catch the shopper's eye.

Some Honesty about Medicare Advantage Plans, Please
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | June 11, 2010 | Trudy Lieberman

Blacks, Hispanics Less Likely Eligible for Medicare Prescription Help
HBNS STORY | May 20, 2010

Not just about Mom and Dad's Health Insurance...
PREPARED PATIENT BLOG | April 6, 2010 | Trudy Lieberman
In the past two weeks I have visited two college campuses---one in Brooklyn and one in Wisconsin.' Large numbers of students turned out to hear about the new reform law and wanted to know what it meant for them.'

Medicare “Doughnut Hole” Causes Seniors to Skip Diabetes Meds
HBNS STORY | January 7, 2010