Opinion
- Details
- Written by: Glenda Humiston
Living in a rural community shouldn’t have to come with a hefty price tag for health care.
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, it no longer has to.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is already making a difference in the lives of millions of rural Americans, including families right here in California.
Prior to the ACA, many rural families had a hard time finding affordable insurance coverage, paying an average of nearly half of their costs out of their own pockets.
Today, thanks to the ACA, families in California can choose from a variety of affordable insurance plans and many will qualify for financial assistance to help them pay for coverage.
To sign up, visit www.healthcare.gov or call 1-800-318-2596 if you need help.
For those who enroll by Feb. 15, coverage will begin on March 1.
But don’t wait too long to sign up for health insurance coverage – the last day to sign up during this open enrollment period is Feb. 15.
Even if you already have coverage through the Marketplace, it pays to go back and review your plan. You may be able to find a plan that saves you money, offers more services, or includes more doctors. In fact, eight in 10 current Marketplace enrollees can get coverage for $100 or less in 2015 after tax credits.
In addition to providing affordable health insurance options for rural families, the ACA also does things to address the underlying challenges to staying healthy in rural America.
Insurance companies are now forbidden from denying you coverage if you have a pre-existing condition and they are required to cover preventive care.
That’s good news for rural Americans who, on average, suffer from higher rates of chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure than those living in urban areas.
It also expands support for the National Health Service Corps, which offers scholarships and loan repayment to doctors and nurses in return for practicing in rural communities.
More than 3,500 Corps members now serve in rural areas, and an average of 86 percent of them will remain in their communities even after completing their service. These investments help keep a steady stream of young, motivated doctors and nurses in rural America.
That’s a good thing because while one in five Americans lives in a rural community, just ten percent of doctors practice there.
The ACA also invests significantly in expanding services at community health centers, where 7.5 million rural Americans get access to primary and preventive care.
That comes on top of the more than $3 billion USDA has invested since 2009 to strengthen health infrastructure in rural areas, build rural hospitals and health clinics, and expanded access to health care in remote areas through telemedicine.
Weeks ago, we announced an additional $10 million in grants to improve access to health care in rural America, including $486,132 to help California Telehealth Network extend telemedicine services linking rural patients in eight California counties to specialty health care services not otherwise available in these rural areas.
The Affordable Care Act gives hardworking rural families in California the financial security and peace of mind they deserve. It makes rural communities stronger and rural families healthier.
Remember you can sign up at www.healthcare.gov or call 1-800-318-2596 for more information.
Glenda Humiston is the California State Director for USDA Rural Development. She oversees the agency's 40-plus programs and invested nearly $1 billion in California's rural communities during fiscal year 2014.
- Details
- Written by: David Sayen
Good news for people with Medicare in 2015: Part B costs will remain the same as in 2014.
Medicare Part B helps pay for doctor bills, outpatient care, durable medical equipment, and other items. It requires a monthly premium and an annual deductible.
I’m happy to report that Part B costs for 2015 will be identical to 2014: $104.90 a month for the premium (for most beneficiaries), and $147 for the deductible.
Most people with Medicare don’t pay any premium for Part A, which helps covers hospital care. But for those who do, the 2015 premium is dropping, from a maximum of $426 per month to $407 per month.
The annual deductible is going up a little, from $1,216 in 2014 to $1,260 in 2015. Once you pay the deductible, Medicare covers your first 60 days of hospitalization with no co-insurance.
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, people with Medicare no longer have co-pays for a long list of Medicare-covered preventive health services.
Preventive shots and screenings are intended to keep you healthy and to detect disease in the earliest stages, when it’s most treatable.
Medicare’s preventive health services include vaccinations for flu and Hepatitis B; screenings for colorectal, breast, and prostate cancer; screenings and counseling for diabetes and depression; cardiovascular disease screenings; and counseling to help you stop smoking or abusing alcohol.
In addition, you can get a one-time “Welcome to Medicare” visit with your doctor, during the first 12 months you’re enrolled in Part B. During this visit you and your doctor can review your medical and social history, and your physician can recommend specific preventive screenings for you, if needed.
Medicare also now covers an annual “wellness” visit with your doctor. This visit is intended to develop or update a personalized plan to prevent disease or disability based on your current health and risk factors.
Another benefit of the Affordable Care Act is that it’s gradually closing the “donut hole,” or coverage gap, in Medicare Part D, the prescription drug program.
The coverage gap begins after you and your drug plan together have spent a certain amount for covered drugs. In 2015, once you enter the gap, you pay 45 percent of the plan’s cost for covered brand-name drugs and 65 percent of the plan’s cost for covered generic drugs until you reach the end of the gap.
However, not everyone will enter the coverage gap because their drug costs won’t be high enough. (There’s a full explanation of the coverage gap in the “Medicare & You” handbook for 2015, which is online at: http://www.medicare.gov/Pubs/pdf/10050.pdf .) The gap is scheduled to be completely closed by 2020.
Finally, Medicare has expanded its “Blue Button” feature to provide better access to your Medicare claims and personal health information.
With the Blue Button you can download 12-36 months of claims information for Part A and Part B, and 12 months of claims information for Part D.
This information can help you make more informed decisions about your care and give your healthcare providers a more complete view of your health history.
You can find the Blue Button at www.MyMedicare.gov .
Once you’ve used the Blue Button, there are a variety of health applications and services to analyze your health information.
Visit www.bluebuttonconnector.healthit.gov to learn more about these useful tools and how to protect your health information once it’s in your hands.
David Sayen is Medicare’s regional administrator for Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific Territories. You can always get answers to your Medicare questions by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).
- Details
- Written by: Linda Laing
At holiday time, many people who are dealing with loss are caught in a dilemma between the need to grieve and the pressure to get into the spirit of the season.
Holidays or not, it is important for people who feel grief to find ways to take care of themselves.
Here are 10 tips for dealing with loss during the holidays from Hospice Services of Lake County.
1. Plan how and where you spend your time during the holidays. Scale back on activities if you want to.
2. Select a candle in your loved one’s favorite color and scent. Place it in a special area of your home and light it at a significant time throughout the holidays, signifying the light of the love that lives on in your heart.
3. Give yourself permission to express your feelings. If you feel an urge to cry, let the tears flow. Tears are healing.
4. Write an “un-sent letter” to your loved one expressing what you honestly feel toward him or her in that moment. After you compose the letter, you may decide to place it in a book, album or drawer in your home, leave it at a memorial site, throw it away, or even burn it and let the ashes symbolically rise.
5. When you are especially missing your loved one, call family members or dear friends and share your feelings. If they knew him or her, consider asking them to share some memories of times they shared with your loved one.
6. If you live within driving distance of the cemetery, decorate the memorial site with a holiday theme.
7. Play music that is comforting and meaningful to you. Take a few moments to close your eyes and feel the music within the center of your being.
8. Give money you would have spent for gifts for your absent loved one to a charity in your loved one’s name.
9. Read a book or article on grief. Some suggestions are: “Don’t Take My Grief Away From Me” by Doug Manning; “The Comfort Book For Those Who Mourn,” compiled by Anna Trimiew; and “A Grief Observed” by C.S. Lewis.
10. Remember that the anticipation of holidays without your loved one is often harder than the actual holidays themselves.
Linda Laing, MFT, is manager of bereavement services for Hospice Services of Lake County, Calif., http://www.lakecountyhospice.org/ .
- Details
- Written by: David Sayen
Medicare’s annual open enrollment season is underway, and I want to encourage everyone with Medicare to review their current health and prescription drug coverage.
Open enrollment began Oct. 15 and runs through Dec. 7, 2014. If you want to change your Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D (prescription drug) plan, this is the time of year to do it. Any new coverage you select will take effect Jan. 1, 2015.
If you have Original (traditional) Medicare and you’re satisfied with it, you don’t need to do anything during open enrollment.
My agency, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, announced recently that the average Medicare Advantage premium for 2015 is projected to be $33.90 monthly. CMS also estimated that the average basic Part D premium in 2015 would be $32 per month.
Since passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, enrollment in Medicare Advantage has increased 42 percent to an all-time high of more than 16 million people. Medicare Advantage premiums, meanwhile, have decreased 6 percent.
The law is also closing the Part D “donut hole,” with more than 8.3 million people saving more than $12 billion on prescription drugs through last July.
Meanwhile, the quality of Medicare Advantage and Part D plans continues to improve. This year, people with Medicare who enroll in such plans will have access to more high-rated, four- and five-star plans than ever before.
About 60 percent of Medicare Advantage enrollees are now in plans earning four or more stars in 2015, compared to an estimated 17 percent in 2009.
Likewise, about 53 percent of Part D enrollees are currently in Part D plans with four or more stars for 2015, compared to 16 percent in 2009.
Medicare plans’ coverage options and costs can change each year, and Medicare beneficiaries should evaluate their current coverage and choices and select the plan that best meets their needs. If you think your current coverage will meet your needs for 2015, you don’t need to change anything.
A variety of resources are available to help you compare your current coverage with new plan offerings for 2015.
You can:
– Visit www.medicare.gov to review plans available in your area, as well as their costs, and enroll in a new plan if you decide to. Open enrollment information is available in Spanish.
– Call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) for around-the-clock assistance to find out more about your coverage options. TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048. Counseling is available in a wide variety of languages.
– Review the 2015 Medicare & You handbook. This handbook has been mailed to the homes of people with Medicare and it’s also online at: www.medicare.gov/pubs/pdf/10050.pdf .
– Get free, unbiased, one-on-one counseling from your local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP).
Local SHIP contact information can be found:
– At www.medicare.gov/contacts/organization-search-criteria.aspx or;
– On the back of the 2015 Medicare & You handbook or;
– By calling Medicare (at 1-800 number above).
People with Medicare who have limited income and resources may qualify for Extra Help to pay for their Part D drug plans. There’s no cost or obligation to apply for Extra Help.
Medicare beneficiaries, family members, or caregivers can apply online at www.socialsecurity.gov/prescriptionhelp or call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY users should call 1-800-325-0778) to find out more.
Better quality in Medicare Advantage and Part D plans isn’t the only good news for people with Medicare.
For most seniors who have Original Medicare, the 2015 Part B premium will stay unchanged for a second consecutive year, at $104.90.
This means more of your retirement income and any increase in Social Security benefits will stay in your pocket. The Part B deductible will stay the same as well.
David Sayen is Medicare’s regional administrator for Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific Territories. You can always get answers to your Medicare questions by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).
How to resolve AdBlock issue?