“Will I have enough assets in order to not run out of money before I run out of life?” is top of mind for all of us in the final third of our lives. In answering this, preservation, positioning and passing of accumulated wealth goes beyond traditional estate planning. It calls for all affected family members to be participants in a model that integrates health, housing and elder law considerations.
If you have original Medicare, the doctor you visit can make a difference in how much you have to pay. While you can go to any doctor who accepts Medicare payments, if the doctor does not “accept assignment,” you can end up paying a lot more. (This does not apply to beneficiaries who are in Medicare Advantage, or managed care, plans.)
Medicare Part B recipients must satisfy an annual deductible. Once the deductible has been met, Medicare pays 80 percent of what Medicare considers a “reasonable charge” for the item or service. The beneficiary is responsible for the other 20 percent.
However, in most cases what Medicare calls a “reasonable charge” is less than what a doctor or other medical provider normally charges for a service. Whether a Medicare beneficiary must pay part of the difference between the Medicare-approved charge and the provider’s normal charge depends on whether or not the provider has agreed to participate in the Medicare program.
If your doctor participates in Medicare it means that the doctor “accepts assignment.” In other words, the doctor agrees that the total charge for the covered service will be the amount approved by Medicare. Medicare then pays the provider 80 percent of its approved amount, after subtracting any part of your annual deductible that has not already been met. The provider then charges you the remaining 20 percent of the approved “reasonable” charge, plus any part of the deductible that has not been satisfied.
If your doctor does not participate in Medicare and does not accept assignment, the rules are different. Non-participating doctors can charge 20 percent of the approved amount plus up to an additional 15 percent more than the Medicare-approved amount. Non-participating doctors can also charge you for the care upfront and request that you bill Medicare, while doctors who accept assignment cannot.
Here is a revealing Met Life Study that delves into women’s attitudes and behaviors related to planning. It reveals a paradox that imperils their extra years with extra risks: Women in general have greater concerns about their retirement security yet do less than needed to plan for adequately addressing those concerns.
Moreover, even when they are on par with men in some planning behaviors, women fall short, along with some men, of incorporating basic and important planning principles into their strategy and activity. It seems self-evident that, if anything, in their own self interest, women should actually out-plan men. That is, we should see women taking charge of their futures in a more forceful way that accounts for their unique set of risks. Findings from this study reveal that this is not the case, although they certainly have the capacity to do so. See the Met Life Study here…
Once you pass 50, your life insurance needs may change. Perhaps the kids are grown and financially secure, or your mortgage is finally paid off. If so, you may be able to reduce or eliminate coverage. On the other hand, a disabled dependent or meager savings might require you to hold on to life insurance indefinitely. See the full AARP article here…
The number of seniors facing credit card debt has been growing. The average credit-card debt for consumers over 65 more than doubled from 1992 to 2004, to $4,907. Credit card debt can be especially problematic for seniors, who typically have a fixed income. If you or someone you love is having trouble making credit card payments, there are several options:
Regardless of what steps the debtor takes, debtors have the right not to be harassed by credit card companies. The Fair Debt Collection Act prohibits certain conduct by credit agencies attempting to collect debts. For example, creditors may contact debtors only between the hours of 8am and 9pm, may not use abusive or profane language, and must stop contacting debtors if the debtors request it in writing.
“From 2005 to 2007 and for the first year of my show on Fox from late 2007 into 2008, I used to say one thing about real estate as an asset class whenever it came up, “There’s never been a better time to sell real estate than right now.” I used to write a weekly piece for the TheStreet.com back in 2006 and 2007 called “This won’t end well” and I often featured real estate charts that went straight up and were supposed to continue going straight up forever. I used to mock Ben Bernanke and others who were convinced that since we’d never had a nationwide downturn in real estate that it could never happen” . Read the rest of Cody Willard, a Wall Street Journal Market Watch contributor here…