What Is Life Insurance for Seniors? Senior Whole Life Insurance is a great way to get life insurance if you’re between ages 50 and 80. It comes in small amounts so it can help pay for final expenses after you’ve passed away, helping your loved ones cover the costs of a funeral or any medical bills left behind.
You may have become used to seeing multiple bottles of pills or other medications on your aging parent’s cabinet or counter, but polypharmacy — the regular use of five or more medications — can pose a serious health risk to seniors. Each year, about 350,000 people are hospitalized after visits to the emergency room because of adverse, or harmful, drug events, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Medication management is an important preventive measure to avoid potentially serious health hazards in seniors. Older adults often take multiple medications, vitamins, and supplements to treat different symptoms and health conditions, which can increase their risk of medication mix-ups. In some cases, these simple mistakes can become dangerous and even fatal. Other factors that increase the risk of health…
Like most insurance, life insurance is cheaper to buy the younger you are when you buy it. This is great news if you’re in your 20s or 30s, but what if you’re a little older and in the market for a new life insurance policy? How old is too old?The answer depends on the type of life insurance you’re shopping for, but one thing’s for certain — no matter what your age today, it’s better to buy a life insurance policy now rather than waiting a year. The price goes up as you get older Premiums for term life increase by about 8% per year in your late 40s, and that rate of increase continues to climb to 9-12% per years after age 50.To illustrate this, we used Policy Genius Life insurance…
THE SOCIAL SECURITY full retirement age is 66 for most baby boomers, and you receive a smaller monthly payout if you sign up at a younger age. Some retirees further delay signing up in order to qualify for monthly payments later in retirement. However, the Medicare eligibility age remains 65. So, if you want to wait until 66 or later to claim Social Security, you will have to sign up for Medicare separately at age 65. Here's what you need to know about signing up for Medicare before claiming Social Security: Social Security and Medicare are separate decisions.Some people are automatically enrolled in Medicare.Remember to sign up for Medicare on time.Signing up for Medicare after you missed the Initial Enrollment Period can trigger penalties.Beneficiaries who work can avoid the Medicare late enrollment penalty.Be…
MEDICARE PROVIDES Valuable health insurance for individuals 65 or older and certain people with disabilities who are under age 65. But it also comes with complex rules and sometimes significant out-of-pocket costs. Here's what you can expect to pay for Medicare: Premiums. Most beneficiaries pay the standard Medicare Part B premium of $134 per month in 2018. However, some Medicare beneficiaries pay different amounts. Medicare Part B payments are prevented by law from reducing Social Security payments, so some Social Security beneficiaries pay lower premiums because their Social Security payments have not increased enough to cover the current standard Medicare premiums. High-income retirees bringing in more than $85,000 ($170,000 for couples) pay higher Part B premiums, ranging from $187.50 to $428.60 monthly, depending on how high their income is. Most Medicare beneficiaries don't…
MEDICARE PART D HELPS retirees pay for their prescription drugs. But these prescription drug plans have a variety of out-of-pocket costs that vary based on the policy you select. Here are some of the medication costs you can expect in retirement. Premiums. The average Medicare Part D premium was $41 per month in 2018, up 11 percent since 2015, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data. However, premiums vary significantly based on the plan you select. Among widely available Part D plans, premiums ranged from $20 to $84 per month. Some Part D plans increased their premiums by more than $10 per month in 2018, and a few plans had slight decreases in premiums. Deductibles. The majority of Medicare Part D plans (55 percent) have a deductible…
RETIREES SPENT $92.8 billion on prescription drugs in 2010. The majority of this money (68 percent) was paid for just five types of medications that cost Medicare beneficiaries age 65 and older $63.4 billion, according to a recent analysis by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Here are the five most expensive types of medications retirees use: Metabolic drugs. Simvastatin, Metformin, Lipitor, Pravastatin and Crestor are among the metabolic drugs that senior citizens spent $22.5 billion on in 2010, the most of any type of medication. This calculation includes out-of-pocket, private and public insurance costs for Medicare beneficiaries age 65 and older, but does not take into account over-the-counter medicines or drugs administered in a clinic or physician's office. Over half (59 percent) of Medicare beneficiaries use metabolic medicines, and the…
The high costs of new drugs, as well as the dramatic price increases of some older and traditionally less expensive generic drugs, have thrust drug prices into the headlines. But what’s the full story? Today, we’re shedding some light on the cost of new drug coming to market, generic drug prices, and why drug coupons the picture. Cost of new drugs New drugs can cost a lot—both to Medicare and to the people who need these drugs. We found that Medicare and its beneficiaries spent about $5.9 billion for 75 new Medicare Part B drugs (those typically administered in a doctor’s office) in 2013. And nearly two-thirds of those 75 drugs had annual costs of more than $9,000 per beneficiary. Moreover, the annual costs of 20 of those drugs—most of…
