How the New Health Care Reform Will Affect Seniors
There remains great concern among seniors about how the new Health Reform Law will affect them, and it will be years before the true effect of the law among this group of citizens is known. However, some aspects of the law are clear, and the hope is that the overall positives will outweigh the negatives when all is said and done.
Among the negatives are broad cuts in projected Medicare payments to insurance plans, hospitals, nursing homes, and other service providers. Although many projections have been made, this is one area in which it is too early to evaluate the size of reductions or its effect. Another negative is that those seniors enrolled in private insurance plans under Medicare Advantage will likely face higher premiums and reduced benefits. Prior to passage of the new law, private insurers were subsidized by the government to manage Medicare programs on the government’s behalf. The government will begin lowering the subsidies to these private plans likely resulting in higher premiums to the insured. Also, although basic Medicare benefits will not be reduced, extras such as eyeglasses may be reduced or eliminated.
There are also significant benefits for seniors in the new health reform law. One is the elimination of the drug prescription “doughnut hole”. The “doughnut hole” is a gap in Medicare prescription coverage that begins when an individual has spent the first $2,830 of prescription expense in a year and continues until he/she has spent $4,550 when Medicare begins paying 95% of the expense. This year, seniors will receive $250 to fill the “doughnut hole”. Next year, seniors who reach the “doughnut hole” will receive a 50% discount on brand-name prescriptions and 7% on generics. The gap will narrow each year until 2020, when the “doughnut hole” will disappear entirely.
Another benefit for seniors is expanded wellness and preventive care coverage. Beginning in 2011, many preventive services will be available at no charge for seniors who receive Medicare. Mammograms and other cancer and diabetes screening will be available at no charge. Also available at no charge will be annual wellness visits, allowing for individuals to receive health risk assessments and personalized prevention plans.
Other highlights of the plans, which will or may affect seniors are as follows: basic Medicare benefits will not be cut; those with preexisting conditions will be able to get insurance coverage through the government until 2014, at which time all insurance plans must cover pre-existing conditions; makes health insurance more affordable for some-starting in 2014, many individuals and families will get tax credits to help them purchase insurance coverage.
It is still very unclear how Medicare cuts will affect the quality of as well as the cost of private health insurance. Chris Pulos, a principal at Brower Insurance Agency in Dayton, is very knowledgeable on this subject. He has spent extensive time reading and reviewing every page of the law. Pulos shared his thoughts and said, “Although this Bill is now law, the situation is still fluid. I believe over the course of the next few years there will be many changes to the legislation. As we approach 2014, (where the real teeth in this Bill exists) our politicians and the public will have to address and maneuver through the complexities of executing the provisions within the law; and we are hopeful that they will be able to simplify this process for the public good, prior to that target date.” We all hope that the new health care reform will overall put the Medicare program in a better position over the long term than it has been before or would be without the reform legislation. Time will tell.
One of my all time favorite family law blogs is Updates in Michigan Family Law written by Attorney Jeanne M. Hannah. I read her posts every week even though thinking about Michigan gives me a twinge of pain as a “Buckeye”. Nonetheless, her posts are always informative and excellent! She recently posted on a topic that I felt would be of interest to our readers, especially since our law office is only a few miles from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. With Jeanne’s kind permission, I have republished her article below.
Military Personnel Records: 
I generally begin my articles for our Family Blog Web Site with a definition of the topic or subject that I am addressing, and this month’s article will not deviate from that practice. Finance is defined by Webster’s New World Dictionary as being “the science of managing money”. And, Financial Planner is defined by Wikipedia as “a practicing professional who helps people deal with various personal financial issues through proper planning, which includes but is not limited to these major areas: cash flow management, education planning, estate planning, investment planning, risk management and insurance planning, tax planning, estate planning and business succession planning (for business owners). The work engaged in by this professional is commonly known as personal financial planning. In carrying out the planning function, he or she is guided by the financial planning process to create a financial plan – a detailed strategy tailored to a client’s specific situation, for meeting a client’s specific goals.”
Just as each marriage is unique, so is each divorce. Your reaction to the final legal decree will vary from that of others going through this process. Your feelings will be based on your own special circumstances and will depend upon a number of factors:
Some holidays warrant special attention. Independence Day is certainly one of them. Last year, I wrote an article for the occasion which I dedicated to my Aunt Marion. In it, I shared some meaningful personal memories and experiences. I have decided to repost it, but this year I want to dedicate it to a wonderful client I represented this past year through a very long and difficult divorce. “Jane” is one of my all time favorite clients! In part, due to her class, intelligence, grace and the exceptional humor she exhibited throughout the proceedings which hit her from “left field” and ended a 19 year marriage. Together, we worked through each painful issue step by step to trial. She and I connected . . . So, why do I mention this? Well, Jane became a reader of the Ohio Family Law Blog and grew up in Maine, like my Aunt Marion. Jane read the 4th of July article I wrote and after her case was done, Jane made a generous donation of children’s books to both a local library and to Dayton Children’s Hospital in honor of my Aunt and as a “thank you”! What a wonderful and exceptionally thoughtful gesture! If you read my article below, you will see the reason Jane selected the gift of the children’s books.
It seemed appropriate that I should write something for the blog geared towards the “Birthday of America”. In the past, I liked to reflect upon the holidays and tried to find some correlation between the specific holiday and my family-law practice. Not always an easy task without becoming repetitive in discussing how to celebrate the day in the aftermath of a traumatic divorce. So, as I pondered possible themes, I considered offering a bit of a twist on “Independence Day”. Or, perhaps, writing a patriotic post about America and the importance of family values. In the end, I decided to go in a different direction.