Check out this Kiplinger video titled, "3 Costly Surprises for Retirees." These three factors can make a huge difference in how well you plan for (and live in) retirement.
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Monday, October 15, 2012
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
When to buy long-term care insurance
When should you start thinking about purchasing a long-term care coverage policy?
In the video below, Dan Danford, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Family Investment Center, gives an outlines the four things everyone should consider when deciding to purchase long-term care coverage.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
8 things to consider before retiring
Here's a great article from MSN Money that provides a general checklist of items to review before making the move. These include:
1) Work-retirement tradeoff
2) Longevity and retirement
3) International investments
4) The U.S. dollar
5) Volatility
6) Glide path
7) Higher medical expenses
8) Income spigots
Friday, September 17, 2010
You can't afford to go without health insurance
The Kansas City Star's Dollars and Sense Blog reported this week that 7 million Americans lost employer-sponsored health insurance last year. That's a huge number - but it's somewhat expected, since we've seen lots of layoffs and downsizing in the past few years.
This is what the U.S. Census Bureau reported:
If you want to read the original summary of key findings from the survey, go here: http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/income_wealth/cb10-144.html
Most Americans get their health insurance through their work, and if they lose their job, some may not be able to afford to pay for it privately. Here's something you need to understand though: going without health insurance, no matter your age and health, is a huge gamble. Even though you may be in terrific health, you could easily be involved in a car accident or suffer from a previously undiagnosed condition. If you're without health insurance, and something happens to you, it can leave you bankrupt. You cannot afford to be without it.
Shop around for quotes. Independent insurance agents may be able to help you find a deal that you can afford. Some opt for a high-deductible plan that would kick in if anything catastrophic happens, but doesn't cover the everyday doctor visits. You should also check with your state to see if you're eligible for any sort of state plan.
Whatever you do, don't go without. You can't afford it.
This is what the U.S. Census Bureau reported:
Census data released today said 50.7 million Americans lacked health insurance in 2009, from 46.3 million in 2008. That was the highest number of uninsured since the bureau began collecting such information in 1987.
If you want to read the original summary of key findings from the survey, go here: http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/income_wealth/cb10-144.html
Most Americans get their health insurance through their work, and if they lose their job, some may not be able to afford to pay for it privately. Here's something you need to understand though: going without health insurance, no matter your age and health, is a huge gamble. Even though you may be in terrific health, you could easily be involved in a car accident or suffer from a previously undiagnosed condition. If you're without health insurance, and something happens to you, it can leave you bankrupt. You cannot afford to be without it.
Shop around for quotes. Independent insurance agents may be able to help you find a deal that you can afford. Some opt for a high-deductible plan that would kick in if anything catastrophic happens, but doesn't cover the everyday doctor visits. You should also check with your state to see if you're eligible for any sort of state plan.
Whatever you do, don't go without. You can't afford it.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
You can't afford to skip exercise
We caught this great blog post on Boomer-Living about fitness, and wanted to share it with you. (You can follow Boomer-Living on Twitter @BoomerLivingNow - and of course we're at @family_finances.)
The basic premise is that sometimes folks cut luxuries when times are tight, as they are right now for a lot of people. But exercise is something you really can't afford to cut - and if you aren't in shape, consider starting an exercise routine.
First of all, fitness doesn't have to cost - walking is free, and great exercise for those who may not have had a previous fitness routine. The options that writer Angelena Craig outlines are low cost, and also good choices for seniors, or anyone, really. You can check out a 75-minute segmented video by Angelena outlining yoga using a chair for free right here: http://www.thenewagingmovement.com/
The truth is, if you neglect your health through a lack of exercise, you'll likely spend a lot more later repairing the damage you've done in earlier years. This is preventive - and something you can't afford not to do.
Read on for the whole post.
http://www.boomer-living.com/2010/08/you-cant-afford-not-to/
Monday, March 22, 2010
Health Care Reform: For or Against, it's here
It remains to be seen if health care reform is going to save you and your family money in the long run. Whether you're in favor of the changes or in opposition, your best course of action is to get up to speed on the changes, and fast. In some cases, families can see a reduction in costs.
Some of the most touted changes are that health insurance companies can't decline coverage for a family if there is a child who has a pre-existing condition. That's certainly favorable, and I imagine there are many parents with sick children applauding that change. Also, parents can keep children on their health insurance policy until the children are 26. That may help some adult kids, as more are living with their parents after college instead of branching out on their own.
If you want to read all about the changes, check out this article from The New York Times, which compares the House and Senate bills:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/19/us/politics/20100319-health-care-reconciliation.html
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
It's time to fix health care
By Dan Danford
Health care reform is high on the president’s agenda. I applaud him for putting it there, although I’m extremely cautious. Government intervention is a perilous thing, with unintended consequences, but there are powerful reasons for someone to do something.
And government is a logical choice. After all, they’re part of the health care problem (more below), so they should be part of the health care solution. The notion that “government should stay out of health care” is both naïve and misleading.
As a small business owner and advocate, I welcome anything with potential to cut employment costs. I’ve wrestled personally with health insurance, and other business owners confirm it’s a leading factor in hiring new help. For smaller companies, the cost of insuring a single new employee family can run over $1,000 per month.
That’s a lot of money and – truthfully - it doesn’t buy much. That’s minimal coverage with high deductibles. In our plan, it includes prescriptions, but with significant co-pays. It also covers preventative tests, which is very good, but there are co-pays for office calls and many emergency room visits. It does cover us for catastrophic injury or disease, but – as most of us know (and welcome) – those don’t occur often.
Employers and families are left to sort these variables and foot the bills. It’s a sad fact that both are so vulnerable, and both are so powerless.
I am a businessman, though, and I do understand insurance company issues, just like, in fact, I understand physician issues, hospital issues, and pharmaceutical company issues. Each provider faces a unique industry segment and some combination of extreme fixed and variable costs. Like any business venture, each seeks to maximize revenues while minimizing costs.
But – and here’s the rub – these combined-but-related industries create a national infrastructure that’s impossible to corral. Despite decades-old political rhetoric, health care is not a free-market economy, and it is not tempered by market pressure. In fact, the infrastructure itself imposes barriers that stymie competition and free-market activity.
Free market? Good luck starting a new hospital. Bringing a new medicine to market is legendarily tough, and patents assure a nice profit margin for years. Becoming a doctor is even tougher, and there aren’t enough digits on your calculator to compute the first year’s expense for starting a health insurance company. The fact is that each of these groups exercises monopoly power in their own segment of the marketplace.
One common characteristic among this unintended cartel is that rising prices benefit almost everyone. As long as prices increase at a moderate pace across the board, everyone is happy except the consumer.
Think about it. The price of meds or a hospital visit goes up by 5 percent. Who complains? Most of us are nearly ecstatic when medical price inflation keeps to a single digit (this is almost a clinical description of the term dysfunction). We’ve been conditioned to expect and fear so much more.
But, seriously, providers can keep almost everyone happy (shareholders, employees, patients, government officials) with modest-sounding increases. Unfortunately, modest annual increases grow into massive amounts in brief time. It’s like the old fable about doubling a penny on each successive spot on a chessboard – it sounds like a little, but it grows into a staggering sum. Quickly. Just like the costs of health care.
It’s a systemic problem. Everyone smiles and cooperates in cost-cutting discussions, while winking and blaming each other. No one is accountable and – again, truthfully – everyone likes it that way. They win. We lose.
Government is dramatically involved, too. Government regulations create some of those monopolies (part of the systemic issues), and Medicare is the single largest buyer of health care services. Actually, government is likely the only entity with enough clout to compel positive change.
Legislators also share some blame for maintaining a legal environment with outsize rewards for medical lawsuits. A big part of systemic cost traces to defensive medicine and malpractice premiums. Reasonable change might bring tremendous improvements.
Traditional approaches simply haven’t worked. Cutting costs by a percent or two isn’t enough to solve these problems. Systemic issues require brash new ideas. Old hierarchies fail and better ones step up. In a genuine free market, efficiency rises from chaos. There’s an ebb and flow that creates better value for consumers. No free markets, no steps forward.
Everyone justifies their own price increases and demonizes others. I’ve listened to physicians complain about hospitals. Hospitals complain about insurance companies. Almost everyone complains against pharmaceuticals. And they all face considerable pressure to raise their own prices while castigating others. It is a never-ending cycle.
It is time to break that costly cycle, and I’m pleased that President Obama wants to do it. I’m cautious, and uncomfortable, and decidedly skeptical. But I’m also convinced that we can’t let the existing infrastructure dictate our future. Left uncontrolled, health care costs will eventually overwhelm all the productivity in our economy.
Fix it now or fix it later, but fix it we must. I’m a cautious optimist that we’re finally stepping forward.
Health care reform is high on the president’s agenda. I applaud him for putting it there, although I’m extremely cautious. Government intervention is a perilous thing, with unintended consequences, but there are powerful reasons for someone to do something.
And government is a logical choice. After all, they’re part of the health care problem (more below), so they should be part of the health care solution. The notion that “government should stay out of health care” is both naïve and misleading.
As a small business owner and advocate, I welcome anything with potential to cut employment costs. I’ve wrestled personally with health insurance, and other business owners confirm it’s a leading factor in hiring new help. For smaller companies, the cost of insuring a single new employee family can run over $1,000 per month.
That’s a lot of money and – truthfully - it doesn’t buy much. That’s minimal coverage with high deductibles. In our plan, it includes prescriptions, but with significant co-pays. It also covers preventative tests, which is very good, but there are co-pays for office calls and many emergency room visits. It does cover us for catastrophic injury or disease, but – as most of us know (and welcome) – those don’t occur often.
Employers and families are left to sort these variables and foot the bills. It’s a sad fact that both are so vulnerable, and both are so powerless.
I am a businessman, though, and I do understand insurance company issues, just like, in fact, I understand physician issues, hospital issues, and pharmaceutical company issues. Each provider faces a unique industry segment and some combination of extreme fixed and variable costs. Like any business venture, each seeks to maximize revenues while minimizing costs.
But – and here’s the rub – these combined-but-related industries create a national infrastructure that’s impossible to corral. Despite decades-old political rhetoric, health care is not a free-market economy, and it is not tempered by market pressure. In fact, the infrastructure itself imposes barriers that stymie competition and free-market activity.
Free market? Good luck starting a new hospital. Bringing a new medicine to market is legendarily tough, and patents assure a nice profit margin for years. Becoming a doctor is even tougher, and there aren’t enough digits on your calculator to compute the first year’s expense for starting a health insurance company. The fact is that each of these groups exercises monopoly power in their own segment of the marketplace.
One common characteristic among this unintended cartel is that rising prices benefit almost everyone. As long as prices increase at a moderate pace across the board, everyone is happy except the consumer.
Think about it. The price of meds or a hospital visit goes up by 5 percent. Who complains? Most of us are nearly ecstatic when medical price inflation keeps to a single digit (this is almost a clinical description of the term dysfunction). We’ve been conditioned to expect and fear so much more.
But, seriously, providers can keep almost everyone happy (shareholders, employees, patients, government officials) with modest-sounding increases. Unfortunately, modest annual increases grow into massive amounts in brief time. It’s like the old fable about doubling a penny on each successive spot on a chessboard – it sounds like a little, but it grows into a staggering sum. Quickly. Just like the costs of health care.
It’s a systemic problem. Everyone smiles and cooperates in cost-cutting discussions, while winking and blaming each other. No one is accountable and – again, truthfully – everyone likes it that way. They win. We lose.
Government is dramatically involved, too. Government regulations create some of those monopolies (part of the systemic issues), and Medicare is the single largest buyer of health care services. Actually, government is likely the only entity with enough clout to compel positive change.
Legislators also share some blame for maintaining a legal environment with outsize rewards for medical lawsuits. A big part of systemic cost traces to defensive medicine and malpractice premiums. Reasonable change might bring tremendous improvements.
Traditional approaches simply haven’t worked. Cutting costs by a percent or two isn’t enough to solve these problems. Systemic issues require brash new ideas. Old hierarchies fail and better ones step up. In a genuine free market, efficiency rises from chaos. There’s an ebb and flow that creates better value for consumers. No free markets, no steps forward.
Everyone justifies their own price increases and demonizes others. I’ve listened to physicians complain about hospitals. Hospitals complain about insurance companies. Almost everyone complains against pharmaceuticals. And they all face considerable pressure to raise their own prices while castigating others. It is a never-ending cycle.
It is time to break that costly cycle, and I’m pleased that President Obama wants to do it. I’m cautious, and uncomfortable, and decidedly skeptical. But I’m also convinced that we can’t let the existing infrastructure dictate our future. Left uncontrolled, health care costs will eventually overwhelm all the productivity in our economy.
Fix it now or fix it later, but fix it we must. I’m a cautious optimist that we’re finally stepping forward.
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