Medicare Supplement Insurance

Even after Medicaid coverage kicks in, nursing-home residents — and sometimes their estates — must contribute to the cost of care.” Even though “Medicaid will pick up as much as 100 percent of an indigent resident’s nursing-home bill if necessary, those with income,” including Social Security and annuity payments, “must effectively split the cost with the government.” For single patients, “all…income goes to the nursing home, except a personal needs allowance of $30 or so a month for extras like haircuts and toiletries,” and “Medicaid pays the facility the difference.” For married patients, a spouse living outside of a nursing home is “entitled to keep a minimum of $1,750 a month (as of July 1) from [the couple's] combined income,” with the rest going to the facility. And if patients fall behind on needed payments from their income, nursing homes “may evict residents, including Medicaid residents.”

Posted under Medicare Supplement

Here is the press release from AM Best:

A.M. Best has assigned a financial strength rating of “A-” Excellent* and an issuer credit rating of “A-” to American Continental Insurance Company (American Continental), a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Genworth Financial, Inc.

According to A.M. Best, American Continental’s ratings reflect its position as the primary Medicare Supplement product platform for Genworth.  It also acknowledges the financial flexibility and access to resources resulting from its ownership by Genworth.  A.M. Best believes that Genworth’s balance sheet has a manageable amount of financial leverage that can be comfortably serviced from the earnings currently generated by its insurance operations.

Michael Atchison, American Continental, Senior V.P. Sales, stated, “This is very exciting news for our sales distribution and clients. It reflects well on our ability to offer top-quality insurance products and outstanding service to agents and policyholders for many years to come. I believe the ‘A -’ Excellent A. M. Best rating for American Continental is evidence that we are committed to excellence in all areas of the business. The new rating coupled with the financial stability of Genworth is a definite win-win for everyone.”

American Continental Insurance Company was established in 2005 on a solid foundation of experience in the health/life insurance industry - from Continental Life Insurance Company of Brentwood, Tennessee.  American Continental became a Genworth Financial Company in 2006.

Posted under Companies, Medicare Supplement

The American Medical Association (AMA) published an interesting Fact Sheet* regarding Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. This is an important topic for our sales team because we continually find that many prospects and clients are misinformed about MA plans, and don’t understand their financial impact on the overall Medicare program. To help provide some additional clarity, we have extracted a few key bullet points from the AMA Fact Sheet:

 

• The AMA supports providing people with choices so they can pick the plan that best meets their needs. We (the AMA) also support injecting more competition into Medicare to help strengthen its sustainability.

 

• Medicare Advantage does not make Medicare more competitive, however. Because of the enormous subsidies that the government provides to these plans, the government is actually projecting that Medicare spending will increase more rapidly as MA enrollment grows than if everyone stayed in the regular Fee-For-Service (FFS) program. The statistics on payment rates show the magnitude of the problem:

 

• MA Plans are paid an average of 112% of FFS costs in the communities they serve.
• MA Private Fee-For-Service (PFFS) plans are paid an average 119% of FFS costs.
• The subsidy is worth $922 per MA enrollee, and eliminating it saves $54 billion over 5 years.
• The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) estimates that all Medicare patients, not just those enrolled in MA, pay $2 per month more in Part B premiums due to the MA subsidy.

 

• The AMA supports financial neutrality between regular Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans. The AMA concurs with MedPAC that “the Medicare program should pay the same amount, adjusting for the risk status of each beneficiary, regardless of which Medicare option a beneficiary chooses.”

 

We remain committed to the notion that even though MA plans can work well for some people, over the long haul, traditional Medicare Supplement policy is the most cost effective health care solution for many seniors.

 

*Source: American Medical Association Fact Sheet,

AD17:07:0597:PDF:10/07

 

 

Posted under Medicare Supplement

United of Omaha (a subsidiary of Mutual of Omaha) is introducing a new, competitively-priced Medicare Supplement in the following states:

Arkansas, Illinois, Misouri and Wisconcin.

Arkansas and Illinois have released and Misouri and Wisconcin are pending with a tentative release date of July 1, 2008.

Posted under Medicare Supplement