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The needs of elderly parents can surprise even those who are prepared, but you don't have to support your family alone Adult children of older parents should prepare financially for the costs of care and travel. Photograph: Alamy We all want to age like the late Pete Seeger, who celebrated his 90th birthday performing onstage in front of thousands of adoring fans of all ages at Madison Square Garden, and went on to entertain the Newport Jazz Festival audiences a few months later. In our pragmatic moments, we know that the odds of living that long and in such good health aren't in our favor. We know we need to plan not only to live longer but perhaps to spend more time in costly nursing homes or care facilities. It's not just ourselves we have to worry about. Failing to develop a plan to help our parents in their final years could deliver a similar kind of blow to our emotional and financial wellbeing. In the last few months, I've watched three friends, ranging in age from their 40s to the early 60s, scramble to resolve non-medical problems for their parents. In all cases, that meant forking out on costly airfares to be there in person; in one case, it required money to hire a new accountant. "I've always been aware that at some point, there would be an emergency, but I had assumed it would be a stroke or something, not this," one told me, ruefully. A recent US Trust survey revealed that while about half of all Americans have planned for their own long-term care needs, on

"Westhill Consulting - Car Insurance Tips to Help You Buy Smarter Car Insurance Tips to Help You Buy Smarter  It doesn't have to be intimidating; buying auto insurance doesn't have to be stressful. There are many options to customize your policy needs base on your budget. If you are knowledgeable with some basic information you can make smarter insurance decisions. These car insurance tips can help you trim down choices and save time and money. * Make sure you're legally covered From state to state, requirements of car insurance vary but one thing is the same virtually everywhere in the U.S. and it is if you drive a car, you're required to have some form of car insurance or proof of financial responsibility. There are more than few factors such as your driving record and insurance history, may affect your policy rates. You may begin here to find the minimum requirements for your state. * Understand your insurance options Car insurance can sometimes be a bit confusing sometimes; it can be complicated to look at because of many choices available to protect you and your car. For you to understand basics, there are nationwide offers such as the following the difference between collision and comprehensive, before you call an agent or get a quote online. * Get at least three quotes It will help if you get quotes from at least three insurance companies you compare price and service options. It is necessary that you request the same coverage from each to get an apples-to-apples comparison. Rates may differ from one company to another. Remember that not because it is the lowest it is the best because the lowest priced insurance may not give you all the coverage you need. Check for every detail, look at price, amount of coverage, benefits and claims services before you make your decision. * Take advantage of discounts This may surprise you, a number of discounts available to lower you for auto insurance rates. An example is if you insure multiple vehicles

When shopping for a plan, start with the basics of what you're looking for and what you're willing to pay for, says Michael McMillan,Executive Director of Market and Network Services at Cleveland Clinic. Then make your selection carefully so you get what you're paying for, he adds. To help you navigate enrollment - either on health insurance exchanges or elsewhere - McMillan offers the following helpful tips: 1. Know what services are covered under a selected plan Start by reviewing what each particular plan offers. For example, what does the network of care providers look like? What services are most important to you based on your particular health needs or conditions, and are they available within a plan's coverage? "This will be a period of great change, and consumers will have a lot of options they haven't had before on the exchanges," McMillan says. "It's important to be clear on what's available and what isn't." 2. Make sure your providers are part of the network When choosing plans, this is a major factor. Look at any given plan to see if your doctors and hospitals you use regularly are listed as network providers. One evolving trend has been for health plans to create narrow networks - smaller versions of their standard network that help them achieve a lower price. The bottom line: Not all providers are included in these limited networks, so it's worth your effort to check first and make sure your new plan includes the doctors and other practitioners you see regularly, McMillan says. 3. Know your out-of-pocket costs These are costs associated with the care received. They include things such as deductibles - the amount you pay before coverage kicks in - as well as copays and coinsurance on services. Out-of-pocket costs vary by the "metal" level of plan you choose on a health insurance exchange. So, for example, you would pay 40 percent of costs of coinsurance in a bronze plan, and 30 percent for silver. In some high

Westhill Consulting Insurance - How to Avoid Health Care Fraud Mail-order medications Patients who buy drugs through mail-order companies could be rolling the dice with their health says Dr. Deborah C. Peel, a physician and founder of the nonprofit Patient Privacy Rights. There's a high probability in many cases that these drugs are counterfeit Peel added. "And you don't ever know because the fraudulent tablets look just like the real ones," says Peel. She says ordering from companies that specialize in mail-order sales that are not affiliated with a legitimate insurance company, especially from foreign countries, can be very risky. Not only could the quality be questionable, it could also be illegal. "But people are desperate because we're being so grossly overcharged for medication," she says. Peel says you can lessen costs by buying generic. You can spot it by: the best thing to do is to keep away from buying drugs from foreign or obscure pharmacies. And if you decide to go with the mail-order route, just stay with U.S.-based companies because if it's a U.S. company, you can report the health care fraud to the Food and Drug Administration while if it's a foreign company, there's little that can or will be done. False product claims According to the Federal Trade Commission, millions fall victim each year to false miracle cures. Especially vulnerable are victims of debilitating and potentially deadly illnesses such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV and AIDS. The FTC website says scammers take advantage of people with a grim diagnosis such as cancer and "promote unproven - and potentially dangerous - substances like black salve, essiac tea, or laetrile with claims that the products are both 'natural' and effective." But, say physicians and other experts, simply because something is advertised as "natural" doesn't mean it works. And while a patient is experimenting with bogus treatments, he or she can squander the opportu

The clock on insurance deductibles reset on Jan. 1, and that means big medical bills are in store for some. Patients may be required to pay thousands of dollars before their health care coverage kicks in. Insurers typically begin or renew policies in January, and that means customers could face some daunting cost-sharing requirements in the first few months of the year. That's especially true if they need surgery or have a particularly expensive prescription. Deductibles topping $3,000 are common among plans sold on the health care overhaul's public insurance exchanges, which provide coverage for millions. Companies also have been raising deductibles for years on employer-sponsored health plans, the most common form of coverage in the United States. Plus cost-sharing requirements for Medicare prescription drug coverage renew every year. All this adds up to a business boon for organizations like the Patient Access Network Foundation, which offers grants to help cover prescription costs for dozens of life-threatening, chronic or rare diseases. The nonprofit had to hire about 80 temporary employees to help handle the heavy workload it receives at the start of the year. It fielded 4,000 calls a day last month, double its normal total. "Everybody who works doing what we do has the same challenge," CEO Daniel Klein said. Klein's foundation is one option patients can turn to if too many expenses hit at the start of the year. Here are some other tips. Understand your coverage: You can't prepare for medical expenses until you know how big the bills might be. Your insurance should come with a plan summary that lays out important numbers. Start by understanding your plan's deductibles, which can differ significantly depending on whether care is received inside or outside the insurer's network of providers. If you take prescriptions, double check how much they will cost. Drug coverage is commonly divided in

Starting a business is risky enough in the best of circumstances. Most new ventures fail, and the prospect of forgoing a salary is enough to keep many would-be entrepreneurs from taking the plunge. But think about how much harder it would be if your child had a health condition, and you couldn't get her insurance if you struck out on your own. That's less of a problem in the U.S. than it was a few years ago, thanks to Obamacare, but until recently it was a very real conundrum. So does the extension of publicly provisioned health insurance prompt more people to start companies? That's the question asked by a paper released earlier this year by Gareth Olds of Harvard Business School. Olds analyzed Census data from before and after the passage of the Children's Health Insurance Program in the U.S. in 1997 to assess its impact on entrepreneurship. CHIP, or SCHIP as it was previously known, provides publicly funded health insurance to children whose families don't qualify for Medicare, but whose incomes still fall below a cutoff (typically around 200% of the federal poverty line). His results suggest that the policy did significantly increase business creation by those families affected. The self-employment rate for CHIP recipients increased from just under 15% of those eligible to over 18%. That amounts to an a 23% increase. The rate of ownership of incorporated businesses - a better proxy for sustainable, growth entrepreneurship - increased even more dramatically, from 4.3% to 5.8%, an increase of 31%. What about all the other factors that might skew this sort of analysis? Olds used several quasi-experimental statistical methods in his research to control for such variables. The basic intuition behind his methods is that a family just above the CHIP cutoff isn't all that different from a family just below it. Whether you make 199% of the poverty line or 201% doesn't matter for much, except whether or not you'll be able to enroll in the program.

How to Find Affordable Family Health Insurance http://www.westhillinsuranceconsulting.com/blog/how-to-find-affordable-family-health-insurance/ Take advantage of free quotes: Who doesn't like free, it a great price! There are many health insurance websites where you can find lot of sites with free family insurance quotes. You must take advantage of these. Not every policy is going to fit for everyone because every family is different. To know the best one for you and your family, use these quoting tools to gather prices and service offerings. And do not think about it as a waste of time, after all it is a free look into the company. It is free yet well worth the time it takes to fill out the questionnaire or quoting application. Know your priorities: You should know and you must be well aware of all your priorities regarding your health care. Are you satisfied with your current doctor or are you open to find new ones? If you are unsure, sit down and take some time listing of your top five most important things when looking for a new policy or health insurance company. This will help you narrow down exactly what you only need and what your looking for. Ask for help if you need it: It is all known to us that understanding the ins and outs of health insurance policies and coverage could sometimes be very frustrating. This is more common to those who are just new to it. Do not hesitate to ask questions if you need to ask questions, ask your questions to the health insurance company representatives. You can even ask your husband, your wife, your dad, your mom, or even your friends. But if you feel that you are not satisfied with the answers you got, don't be frightened to enlist the help of an insurance broker. They can help you find the best rates available, can explain the inner workings of the policy, and know what places are reputab

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, healthcare costs are expected to rise by 5.8% each year until 2022, which is going to make for a pretty serious hike in your expenses. Instead of getting frustrated and giving in, though, put your thinking cap on. If you're willing to roll your sleeves up and do a little research, you can find plenty of ways to reduce your medical costs. Here are six of them. 1. Use Urgent Care Facilities Instead of the Emergency Room It's a pretty decent bet that there's an urgent care facility near where you live that you can use in lieu of the emergency room. It won't cost you as much, and many such facilities offer extended hours. Don't wait for the next time an emergency occurs - do an Internet search now to find suitable locations and note their hours of operation. 2. Improve Your Health One of the simplest ways to decrease your medical costs is to improve your health. If you're overweight, join a gym or create a home workout program and adjust your diet to include more fresh fruits and vegetables. Still smoking cigarettes? Buy a patch or join a support group and quit. Got friends who encourage you to party it up on the weekends? Find yourself some new ones or convince them to participate in healthier activities. Concrete steps like these can get you more fit and less likely to need medical attention. 3. Get Generic Prescription Medication Whenever your doctor prescribes any medication, be sure to ask for a generic option. You can save as much as 85%, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which also points out that you don't sacrifice anything in quality by avoiding brand name meds. 4. Pay Your Bill Upfront If you have the means to do so, offer to pay your medical bill upfront for a negotiated discount. This is a shrewd and under-used method to reduce your medical costs. See the billing department at the hospital or your doctor's office for details. 5. Use Your Smartphone A variety of mo