Costs of Some New Long-Term Care Insurance Policies Going Down in 2018 While long-term care insurance costs are up in general, some policies are going down in 2018, according to the 2018 Long Term Care Insurance Price Index, an annual report from the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI), an industry group. A married couple who are both 60 years old would pay an average of $3,490 a year combined for a total of $333,000 of long-term care insurance coverage when they reach [...]

Spending Down Assets to Qualify for Medicaid Medicaid has strict asset rules that require applicants to "spend down" their assets before they can qualify for coverage.  It is important to know what you can spend your money on without endangering your Medicaid eligibility. In order to be eligible for Medicaid in New York, applicants must have no more than $15,150 in "countable" assets (the dollar figure may differ in other states).  In addition, Medicaid also has strict asset transfer [...]

Home Health Care Patients With Chronic Conditions Are Having Trouble Getting Medicare Medicare is supposed to provide up to 35 hours a week of home care to those who qualify, but many Medicare patients with chronic conditions are being wrongly denied such care, according to Kaiser Health News. For a variety of reasons, many home health care agencies are simply telling patients they are not covered. Medicare is mandated to cover home health benefits indefinitely. In addition, Medicare is [...]

Two Popular Medigap Plans Are Ending. Should You Enroll While You Can? If you will soon turn 65 and be applying for Medicare, you should carefully consider which Medigap policy to enroll in because two of the most popular plans will be ending soon. In 2020, Medicare beneficiaries will no longer be able to enroll in Plans F and C. Between copayments, deductibles, and coverage exclusions, Medicare does not cover all medical expenses. Offered by private insurers, Medigap (or [...]

How Will the New Tax Law Affect You? While most of the new tax law has to do with reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, some provisions relate to individual taxpayers. Before we get into the details, be aware that almost everything listed below sunsets after 2025, with the tax structure reverting to its current form in 2026, unless Congress acts between now and then. The corporate tax rate cut, however, does not sunset. Here are the highlights for our readership:  [...]