Medicaid and Medicare

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(MedPage Today) -- Children with HIV who received standard childhood immunizations before starting on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) could benefit from revaccination, a review suggests.

(MedPage Today) -- Adults with asthma and those who smoke should receive the 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine to prevent pneumococcal disease, according to new recommendations from the CDC.

Do you worry month to month how you will cover your medical expenses? Are you concerned about paying your monthly Medicare premiums and still meeting your other financial needs? You may qualify for one of four state-run Medicare Savings Programs for people with limited income and resources. These program help pay some or all of Medicare’s premiums. In addition, they may pay Medicare deductibles and coinsurance.

 

The Four Medicare Savings Programs

“It might seem nearly impossible for those with low incomes to carve out additional money from an already tight monthly budget,” says Alan Weinstock, insurance broker at http://www.MedicareSupplementPlans.com, “So states have four programs that help pay for Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) and/or Medicare Part B (medical insurance) premiums.”

 

The programs include:

 

Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB)
Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary (SLMB)
Qualifying Individual (QI)
Qualified Disabled & Working Individuals (QDWI)

 

Medicare Part A is free to those who qualify. Part B premiums, on the other hand, are tied to your annual income and whether you are a current Medicare beneficiary.

 

If you’re new to Medicare or don’t have your Part B premiums automatically taken from your Social Security checks, the 2010 premium is $110.50 per month for single taxpayers with an income of $85,000 or less. If you already have Medicare, your premiums are deducted from your Social Security checks and you make $85,000 or less, your premiums should stay at the current rate of $96.40 for 2010.

 

In addition, if you qualify for QMB, SLMB, or QI, you automatically qualify for extra help paying the costs of Medicare prescription drug coverage.

 

How to Qualify for One of the Four Medicare Savings Programs (MSP)

 

To help you understand what each program offers and what it takes to qualify, here is a chart which provides more details.

 

Medicare Savings Program

Single Monthly Income Limit

Couples Monthly Income Limit

Helps to Pay for…

QMB

$903

$1,215

Part A and Part B premiums and other costs like deductibles, coinsurance and copayments

SLMB

$1,083

$1,457

Part B premiums only

QI

$1,219

$1,640

Part B premiums only

QDWI

$1,805

$2,428

Part A premiums only

 

For each program your resource limit (Monthly Income Limit, i.e., MIL) is $4,000 for singles and $6,000 for couples. Resources include money in a checking or savings account, stocks and bonds. Resources don’t include your home, car, burial plot, up to $1,500 for burial expenses, furniture or other household items. The asset limits are the same for all programs.

 

Weinstock, whose http://www.MedicareSupplementPlans.com offers Medigap insurance to Medicare beneficiaries in California notes, “Even if you are working, you may qualify for benefits. Many states figure income and resources differently, so you may be eligible in your state even if you think you exceed the limits.”

 

Call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) and ask about getting help paying for your Medicare premiums. TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048.

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WASHINGTON (MedPage Today) -- The consumer group Public Citizen is urging the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to regulate the work hours of resident physicians.

(MedPage Today) -- A combination of four factors appears to significantly increase the risk of opioid dependence among patients taking prescription painkillers, researchers have found.

(MedPage Today) -- Certain subgroups of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, particularly those who have low levels of IgG, are at risk for severe infections when treated with rituximab, French investigators found.

STOCKHOLM (MedPage Today) -- An investigational antiplatelet -- ticagrelor (Brilinta) -- emerged as a big winner from the five-day long European Society of Cardiology congress, but the buzz here focused instead on a trio of investigational oral anticoagulants -- dabigatran, rivaroxaban, and apixaban.

(MedPage Today) -- Wide-scale disclosure of clinical errors seems intuitively to be the ethical choice for hospitals and physicians, but researchers from the University of Washington suggest that disclosure should be decided on a case-by-case basis rather than a one-size-fits-all solution

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