Healthcare Reform Detailed in Congress

Democrats have proposed a complete overhaul of the nations health care system, but Republicans are not so quick to jump on board. Mostly because they feel that it will not only cost the country too much money, but will limit freedom of choice for most Americans.

The Republican party has recently jumped into the healthcare reform debate with a proposal called the Patients Choice Act. This would provide a tax credit to allow for an individual to be able to purchase health insurance in more competitive private plans. They seek to balance the Democratic ideals for reform which they claim might cause a restriction of job creation thus restricting economic growth.

Legislation to reduce health care expenses and making insurance more accessible is what President Obama has asked from the Congress. He, along with other Democrats, desires health insurance coverage for all uninsured folks and increased competition for the private insurance corporations.

There is contentious discussion amongst the parties regarding details but both have some common ground as all realize there has to be a change. The similarities are creation of insurance exchanges which creates comparison based shopping for insurance plans. Also, both parties want to see more emphasis of expenses put toward prevantable diseases, trying to correct it before it becomes a more expensive problem.

Congressional leaders hope to pass some sort of health care reform over the summer months. They vow that no matter how the plan is written it will help more Americans afford the health care that they desperately need.

How Does LTCi Protect Young Families?

How Does LTCi Protect Young Families? By Susan P. Payne How Does LTCi protect young families? Every day many people of all ages experience a significant change in health status. How would it impact your family if a sudden unexpected accident or illness happened? Are you prepared to handle the cost associated with long-term care? Needing long term care help is a family issue. What will happen to saving for the kids college? Your retirement? Your finances? Planning for a secure future can be possible with integrating Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCi) protection planning.

LTCi is important, yet overlooked by many. It is the day-to-day help you need when a serious illness, injury or disability makes you physically or cognitively unable to care for yourself for a long period of time. This type of care is usually provided at home, in an assisted living facility, adult day care or, lastly, in a nursing home. No one ever wants to think about a catastrophic illness or an accident like a broken leg or hip. Close your eyes and think about what life would be like with a broken hip. You could not walk, bathe or dress yourself. You would need someone to assist you in your normal activities of daily living. Could you depend on your family? Would you spouse have to miss work? Would the kids need to miss school or their sporting events?

How will having a Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCi) plan help you and your family? 1. Protects your independence,live how you want, where you want

2. Protects your family from the potential burden of being your caretaker

3. Protect your savings, college funds and retirement plans from the high cost of long term care

4. Many plans will pay for home health care providers, home health aides and caregivers, giving you freedom to choose what makes you comfortable.

Why does someone my age need to think about long-term care? Today you are healthy. But 24-hours from now, things can change. Many illnesses, once considered to be life threatening, are now life altering with the medical advances in place today. Many now leave you ‘disabled’ relying on others for care, sometimes for short periods of time, sometimes for life. Long term care protection requires you to “health qualify”. No matter how much you would be willing to pay, a change in health can make it impossible for you to health qualify for long term care insurance. For individuals who are currently young and in good health, you have the possibility of locking in “preferred rates” for your lifetime. Cost for insurance can be significantly lower at younger ages so you will save money! You lock in savings and you can never be canceled even if your health changes. You may benefit now and again later as many people need and use their benefits when they are young and again when they are older.

How does LTCi protect young families? Because things can change tomorrow, now is the right time!

Simplifying Long Term Care

What is Long-Term Care? When people consider the subject of long-term care, they often think about nursing homes. In fact, long-term care has little to do with nursing homes. Understanding the difference can help you protect your family and finances.

The Consequences of Living Longer

Long-term care is a continuum of care services and housing that you will need later in life. Think you won’t live a long life? Think back 25 years ago. If you had cancer or a stroke, you simply died. Few ever heard of Alzheimer’s. Today, it is the leading cause for long-term care services. The longer you live, the more likely you are to need care. The question is not who will take care of you, because your family will most often, but rather what will that care do to your family and finances.

Long-Term Care is Usually Custodial Care

Long-term care is defined as needing assistance with your activities of daily living (toileting, bathing, dressing, eating, transferring from one point to another, and continence). It also includes cognitive impairment so severe that the individual needs constant supervision. If you need custodial care, chances are it will be delivered in the community, not in a nursing home. Many of you have heard compelling statistics from The New England Journal of Medicine stating that 43% of those over age 65 will need nursing home care. What the article actually said is that that number may spend some time in a facility. The fact is, few end their days in one. Every study conducted finds that care is overwhelmingly provided at home. The key question, of course, is who is going to pay for it? Who Covers the Cost?

Medicare & VA

Medicare, the primary health care program for retirees pays only for skilled or rehabilitative care, not custodial care in any venue. Medicaid, a federal and state program for financially needy individuals will pay for custodial care, but primarily in nursing homes. Funding for home care and assisted living is very limited and based on availability of funds. Veterans believe that the VA will pay for home care, adult day care, or assisted living. As with Medicaid, funding is limited and generally based on service-related disability. In fact, the federal government has as much said this to veterans by encouraging them to purchase long-term care insurance through the new Federal Long-Term Care Insurance program. The result is that consumers are forced to pay privately for their care. Unfortunately, the best thought-out retirement plan rarely takes into consideration living a long life. Put another way, those assets and income have been allocated to pay for retirement, not for the consequences of living a long life. This results in the need to invade principal and divert income. As a result, one of a seniors’ greatest fear, outliving their assets, literally may come true.

The Role of Long-Term Care Insurance

The use of long-term care insurance thus becomes an important part of planning for disability caused by living a long life. The product has two roles: helping keep families together and allowing your retirement portfolio to execute for the purpose for which it was intended, namely retirement. From a family perspective, who will provide your care? Like it or not, children will play a key role. Long-term care insurance (LTCI) doesn’t replace the need for family involvement in providing care but rather builds on it. It pays professionals to assist the person with the toughest tasks such as toileting, bathing, feeding and continence. This, in turn, allows the family to provide care better and longer at home. That leads to a critical question: have YOU planned for the consequences of living a long life? From a financial point of view, LTCI allows your retirement plan to stay intact. That is particularly important given the recent steep decline in portfolio value. The product, in effect, protects the balance of your account value. LTCI also protects income. Although you may qualify for Medicaid to pay for nursing home costs by transferring assets, your income (pension, social security, IRA and or 401k payout) cannot be protected. When buying this insurance, look for a long-term care specialist. Consider their training, educational credentials, and commitment to help solve your long-term care needs. The key is whether they talk first about a plan or a product. If they are interested in the plan, you are dealing with a professional. If they focus first on product and price, consider getting another opinion.

How You Can Use Long Term Care Insurance

Most of us never want to imagine growing old, being sick or needing long term care. But for 70 percent of people, this is something that they have to face. And the sad thing is that many of them are not insured with long term care insurance.

What is long term care insurance? It is an insurance policy that pays for your stay in a nursing facility or long term care facility. As people begin to live longer, the need for long term care facilities has become apparent. For this reason, it is wise for you to purchase long term care insurance.

You can use long term care insurance in many different ways. Some include the following:

After an accident If you have a catastrophic accident, the last thing you need to do is worry about the cost of the medical facility where you are being treated. In most cases, after the danger period is over, you will be transferred to a nursing home or rehabilitation facility. This can be costly and your insurance may only pay a portion for this care.

This is where long term care insurance can benefit you. It can pay what the insurance company does not cover. This way, you will not be paying out of pocket for your care.

After an illness Long term care is not often final care. In many cases, someone recovering from an illness needs nursing care around the clock but is stable enough to be moved from the hospital. In such cases, people are often sent to long term care facilities. Medicare and insurance only cover a portion of these costs. If you cannot pay, you will be forced to go on public aid – after you have sold everything you own. This can be financially devastating to you when you recover.

Long term final care If you get to a point in your life where you have an irreversible condition and need nursing care, you can get a policy that will last over 4 years. This will pay for your care in the final stages of your life and not eat away at your savings. You will not be a burden to your loved ones and will still be able to leave some money to your heirs.

None of us likes to think of these scenarios, but they happen every day. This is why it is so important to consider long term care insurance Long term care insurance can help you in many ways and allow you to retain what you worked so hard to save.

A Look Into Our Lifestyles and Medical Issues

Deaths occur across our country every day due to illness and disease. There are some in this group who might have been saved if they had been insured with a health insurance plan and had earlier intervention. The right to health insurance should not only be a province of the wealthy and/or employed, it should be made available to all citizens.

There are countries within Africa where there is not access to medication and health care such as we have here in our country. So there are lots of preventable deaths there due to this lack of resources.

But here in the US, we have so much medical care available our health is not even questioned. As a result we treat our bodies with disregard by eating unhealthy. This causes deaths of our own doing, so to speak, and we are still not affording people lifesaving medications if they have no health insurance.

Honestly, we all need to start taking care of ourselves and begin eating and exercising as if we want to live instead of die. Many of the diseases in this country that require medical treatment are diseases like Diabetes, Heart Attack, Stroke, Cancer, and other vascular diseases. All of which by the way come from the lifestyle that we lead. It is not the equivalent of having a society overcome with AIDS or stricken by Swine Flu (H1N1).

What we need to realize is that if we were all doing our part to stay healthy, then we would only need to seek medical treatment for other miscellaneous illnesses and injuries that we sustain, and medical expenses in this country would go way down. We are committing a sort of mass suicide.

Budget Friendly Health Insurance for Your Family

Although everyone should have proper health insurance, there are many that do not have insurance at all. Although most employers offer health insurance through their company, many either cannot afford it. To protect yourself from illness and in cases of an accident it is crucial to have health insurance. Most individual insurance plans allow you to cover other family members for a slightly higher premium.

Having the right health insurance is important so that you and your children can get the care that is needed. It is imperative that young kids get regular check-ups and the booster shots they need while they are growing up. Having coverage for preventative care is a vital part of making sure your kids stay strong and healthy. Health care for families will help catch any illnesses before they end up turning into something much more serious. With preventative health care, you will have access to routine check-ups at your doctor, physicals, shots and immunizations, and well-baby check-ups. Most family health care plans will also include emergency care for your child, as well, in case of a sudden illness or accident.

Preventative care is essential for children. But it is also important for everyone else in the family. Most adults need a physical check-up every year, as well as doctor appointments for when you are sick or need medicine. Maternity care is another part of a health insurance plan that is essential if you think you or someone else on your plan will be getting pregnant in the nears future. If your family includes someone with a pre-existing condition, you may have to have special insurance for them, so that they are guaranteed to get the care they need.

Obtaining The proper health insurance for your family can be done a few ones. One way is to contact insurance agents, by phone or at their office, to discuss the best plans for you. The Internet is also a great way to research what you may need.

You can use a web services that will give you multiple quotes from insurance companies. You do this by filling out a short form, you are then matched with companies that will service your needs best. Afterwards you can view a side by side comparison of the coverage and quotes from each company.

Government Health Care, An Option Or A Necessity

The issue of health care is something that is on the minds of many Americans. While the government wrestles with the idea of a nationalized health plan, there are many who think that this will limit choices and the competitive health care industry. Unfortunately, when you look at the other options there really aren’t any. There are many who believe that this is not necessary; however, it is important to understand that we all pay to get these people health care one way or another.

There are over 45 million people in this country who had no insurance in 2005. Many of those will pay their bills to the best of their ability, the other 43 million spent for those people will be broken down in these categories. Government programs will take care of a third, and what’s left is handled with higher premiums for those people who do have health insurance.

Looking at this a person would think that their medical outflow would be less than if there were a federal plan to pay for. The reality may be different than this thought process, what if a person enters the emergency room, they have a ruptured blood vessel their brain and this is causing internal bleeding. The medical staff there will do everything they can do to keep her alive, but in the end she dies anyhow. The family answers questions from the hospital who are trying to determine the story, they discover Mary had high blood pressure but had to choose between her meds and food for her family. If she had had the medication she more than likely wouldn’t have been in this situation. The cost of trying to treat and ultimately trying to save her life in those few hours is very expensive compare to what a annual cost of the medication would’ve been.

This is a story where no one profits. Everyone will be paying for this scenario Mary went through in the emergency room. There were many hours spent by the medical staff even when the picture looked grim. An in the end, Mary’s children are left with no mother.

When you look at a scenario like this, isnt it just a better choice to help Mary pay for that high blood pressure medication?