Many people say they enroll in Medicare Advantage–Medicare coverage through private health insurers- thinking it is a lower cost alternative to Traditional Medicare. Certainly, the Medicare...
Diane Archer
Do you qualify for hospital charity care?
Back in October 2021, I wrote a post for Just Care on how to lower your hospital costs if your income is low. Many people who qualify for charity care are unaware that they might qualify for a free...
Your heart rate can help you understand your physical fitness
If you carry a mobile phone, you already track the number of steps you take each day. Other devices can help you do even more. Talya Minsburg reports for The New York Times on the benefits of...
How to avoid overpaying for your prescription drugs
In a piece for the New York Times, Rebecca Robbins and Reed Abelson advise readers on how to avoid overpaying for prescription drugs. Most importantly, you should not assume that your insurer is...
Gray hair? It could be a thing of the past
If your hair is grey or would be grey if you didn’t color it, you are part of a club that includes nearly half of all people worldwide. Gray hair is generally unavoidable by the time you’re 50...
Is Medicare’s Hospital at Home program here to stay?
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Medicare has been paying hospitals to treat patients at home, instead of in hospital, under its Hospital at Home program. Medicare pays hospitals the same rate for the...
Insulin costs: Biden v. Trump
If you are looking for our next president to lower your health care costs, there are multiple reasons to support President Biden over Donald Trump. One is insulin. Though Trump would like you to...
Save money, avoid hospital-owned outpatient facilities
One of the ways hospitals are generating more revenue is through ownership of doctors’ practices, outpatient surgical clinics and diagnostic centers. Hospitals can charge far higher fees for...
Why social health is as important as physical and mental health
I’ve written a bunch about the value of a buddy or buddies to your overall health, as well as the health costs of social isolation. A new piece by Kasley Killam in The Guardian lays out why...
Medicare Advantage offers less care at greater cost
In a paper for JAMA Network, Adam Gaffney et al. suggest the time is ripe for cutting our losses in Medicare Advantage and strengthening traditional Medicare for two reasons. People in Medicare...