You’ve dreamed of it most of your working life – retirement. Your retirement years should be filled with rest, relaxation and activities you’ve always wanted to do but never had the time. You’ve planned financially since you were a young adult. Now that it’s here, unfortunately, you might be worried that you don’t have quite enough income to enjoy your golden years, especially since new figures suggest that retirees spend an average of $200,000 in healthcare costs.
Many adults think that if they have Medicare, they don’t have to worry too much about healthcare costs in retirement. However, data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute shows that only approximately 60% of a retirees medical expenses are covered by Medicare. You will need to find a resource – such as a supplemental health insurance policy – to cover the rest of your healthcare expenses.
A “Medigap” policy, sold by private companies, can help bridge the financial gap when you have Medicare. This type of policy might help cover copayments, coinsurance and deductibles. However, it’s important to note that to receive a Medigap plan, you must have Medicare Part A and Part B and that there are certain things a Medigap plan will not cover, such as dental care, vision care and long-term care.
A group health plan, sometimes referred to as a retiree plan, comes from your former employer or your spouse’s former employer. If you have a retiree plan, make sure you are very familiar with the rules. This type of plan varies greatly and might not work with Medicare the same way that an individual health plan would.
Being proactive in making sure that all of your medical and hospital bills are accurate and reasonable is just as important as making sure that you are adequately covered through health insurance plans. This means that you must get detailed, itemized statements of all of your medical bills to make sure that your charges are accurate. Once you are assured that the charges are correct, you must make sure that the prices are reasonable. This can be tricky, but you can always enlist the help of a reputable medical billing review team, such as the experienced professionals at Medical Billing Advocates of America. These billing review specialists will make sure that what you are paying on medical bills is in-line with what is considered to be fair and standard. If you would like a professional review of your medical bills, call Medical Billing Advocates of America at 855-203-7058.
