Here is a list of Medicare’s preventive services:

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening
Bone Mass Measurement
Cardiovascular Screening
Colorectal Cancer Screening
Fecal Occult Blood Test
Flexible Sigmoidoscopy
Colonoscopy
Barium Enema
Diabetes Screening
Diabetes Self-management Training
Flu Shot
Glaucoma Test
Hepatitis B Shot
HIV Screening
Mammogram
Medical Nutrition Therapy Services
Pap Test and Pelvic Exam (includes breast exam)
“Welcome to Medicare” Preventive Visit
Yearly “Wellness” Visit
Pneumococcal Shot
Prostate Cancer Screening
Smoking Cessation Counseling

Some veterans use their VA health benefits to get coverage for services not covered by Medicare. For example, certain prescription drugs that are currently excluded from Medicare drug coverage, such as benzodiazepines and barbiturates are covered by the VA.

Since VA drug coverage is more comprehensive than Medicare’s, and there are no premiums and limited co-payments for prescriptions, you may not even want to enroll in a Medicare private drug plan. If you decide you want to enroll in Part D later, VA drug coverage is considered as good as the Medicare drug benefit (“creditable coverage”), so you will not have to pay a penalty, as long as you enroll in Part D within 63 days of losing VA benefits.

However, you may want to join a Medicare private drug plan if you live very far from a VA facility, and your Part D plan includes nearby pharmacies in its network, or if you live in a nursing home that does not accept your VA drug coverage.

Learn more about VA benefits at www.http://www.va.gov, or schedule a consultation with us. Call 713-866-4050.

The number 1 reason you need life insurance is because it will help your family in the event that you are not around to help them yourself. People have a tough time deciding on purchasing life insurance and it most often comes down to protecting their family.

2. Low Monthly Premiums:

Healthy people can often purchase life insurance for very low premiums, age dependent of course. Life insurance can be a very small investment that provides immense protection in unexpected circumstances.

3. Peace of mind:

Why stress about what will happen when you pass away, this can be solved by owning life insurance. The stress relief you will feel by purchasing life insurance should be enough to help you sleep a little bit better at night.

4. Funeral Costs:

It’s no fun thinking about a funeral, but its necessary to make sure you are prepared. Life insurance can be designed to pay for a funeral so your loved ones do not have to. Funerals are extremely expensive and nobody wants to leave that burden on their family. Often Life insurance (Final expense plan) is very affordable and doesn’t break the budget.

5. Build Cash Value:

Many people get a whole life insurance quote online because they want to diversify. Saving your money is well and good, but this is just another way to protect your interests in the future.

6. Life insurance plans can provide a pension:

When most people think about life insurance, they don’t know that there are extras that make the policies attractive. Your plan can include a nice pension to make life much easier on the back end. This can be achieved through dividends and cash value.

7. Bankruptcy exemption:

There are few things that are exempt from creditors in the case of bankruptcy. Life insurance benefits fall in this category, making them an even safer place to put some of your savings.

8. Cover the unexpected:

It can include a rider to protect other unexpected circumstances. Some of the best policies will include a rider to protect against illness or death or a child or spouse, as well.

9. Life Insurance as an asset:

Life insurance is seen as an asset for many purposes, meaning it can improve your credit standing and make it easier for you to get loans. An example could be a paid up whole life policy that allows you to borrow against it just like the equity in your home.

10. Getting your money back:

Many life insurance policies provide riders that include return of premium…where you get some of your money back in addition to the benefits provided.

As you can see in the 10 reasons above, there are many positives to having life insurance. Sometimes it just takes someone to highlight the obvious benefits in order to make a sale.

By Redbird Advisors

Term Life Insurance:

Term is defined as “the time or period through which something lasts.” This relates to Term Life Insurance because it is in effect for a specific term, for example, 10 year $250,000 Term Policy. This policy will pay $250,000 if the beneficiary passes within the specified term of 10 years. If the beneficiary lives longer than the 10 year term, the policy expires and is no longer in effect. Pretty easy to remember right? Another piece of valuable information regarding term insurance is that it can be very cost effective.

Term Life Insurance premiums are often very afforable and are commonly used when a family has their first child. 20 year Term policy is valuable because if a beneficiary passes within the first 20 years of their childs birth, they can leave a legacy to fund education and standard of living. Again, after the 20 years have passed without death of the beneficiary, the policy expires. Term Insurance is a great way to get large amounts of life insurance for short periods of time and low monthly premiums.

Whole Life Insurance:

Whole is defined as “The entire life cycle of a process with termination happening only at the definite end.” What this means is that Whole Life Insurance life cycles starts at the policy issue and end at the time of death of the beneficiary. Whole Life insurance is enforceable for the beneficiary’s “whole life”. For Example, Mr. Smith purchases a $15,000 whole life policy that is payable to the funeral home at the time of his death. This means that regardless of his age, his policy will pay out at the time of his death and not expire. So unlike Term Life Insurance, there is no expiration date and the premiums are much higher.

Due to the fact Whole Life Insurance is enforceable for an individuals whole life, the premiums are much higher. There are many strategies for purchasing Whole Life Insurance, and advice most agents will give is “buy it while you’re young, you’re as young and as healthy as you’re ever going to be”. So the younger an individual is, the lower the premiums will be. So remember, when you are shopping for Whole Life Insurance, buy it while you’re still young and save some money!

We discussed the 2 main differences between Whole and Term Life Insurance. Due to the nature of this business, we have only scratched the surface in regards to all the details about Life Insurance. Stay tuned as we will continue to update articles to help everyone else understand the insurance world.

By Redbird Advisors

The HSA contribution limits and out-of-pocket maximums have been increased. Also, the minimum required deductibles have increased.

2013 HSA Contribution Limits

•Individuals (self-only coverage) – $3,250 (up $150 from 2012)
•Family coverage – $6,450 (up $200 from 2012)

HDHP minimum required deductibles

•$1,250 for self-only coverage
•$2,500 for family coverage

Out-of-pocket maximum

(Out-of-pocket expenses include deductibles, co-payments, and other amounts, but not premiums)

•$6,250 for self-only coverage
•$12,500 for family coverage

If you use an HSA to pay for unqualified medical expenses, the tax penalty is 20 percent of the HSA distribution.

Background on Health Savings Accounts

A Health Savings Account, or HSA, is a financial account established by an individual or family to pay for qualified medical expenses.

U.S. federal regulations require citizens to have a minimum deductible on their health insurance from all sources in order to make tax-deductible contributions to their Health Savings Accounts (HSA).

HSAs combine the benefits of both traditional and Roth 401(k)s and IRAs for medical expenses. Taxpayers receive a 100% income tax deduction on annual contributions, they may withdraw HSA funds tax-free to reimburse themselves for qualified medical expenses, and they may defer taking such reimbursements indefinitely without penalties.

HSAs are unique with triple tax advantages:

1.Tax-deductible contributions,
2.Tax-free accumulation of interest and dividends tax-free, and
3.Tax-free distributions for qualified medical expenses.

Contact Senior Insurance Options, Inc. for more information.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have awarded BCBSNC’s Medicare Advantage plans 4.5 out of a possible 5 stars.  This is the highest overall rating of all Medicare Advantage plans in North Carolina.

The CMS star rating system considers 53 quality measures, such as success in providing preventive services, managing chronic illness and minimizing consumer complaints.  All ratings can be found on Medicare’s Plan Finder at www.medicare.gov.  BCBSNC’s Medicare Advantage plans are available in 75 North Carolina counties.

“The 5-star rating system eliminates much of the confusion consumers often feel when choosing a Medicare Advantage plan by allowing them to see at a glance how plans compare,” said BCBSNC SVP and Chief Operations Officer Ian Gordon.  “Our score shows that when it comes to overall quality, we outperform other plans offered in North Carolina.”

CMS derives each plan’s score from four sources:  CMS data on plan quality and customer satisfaction: the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS), the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) and Health Outcomes Survey (HOS).

BCBSNC’s Medicare Advantage offerings include Blue Medicare HMO and Blue Medicare PPO.  The 4.5 star rating does not apply to BCBSNC’s Medicare Supplement product (which is not rated by CMS) or its Medicare Part D product (which earned a separate CMS rating of 4.5 stars.)

 Information from:  Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC – Media Center – November 19, 2010 form # Y0079_5167 PA 11192010

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NC Blue Advantage Plans