Health Insurance 101
for Senior Citizens
 Adequate
health insurance is becoming one of the most precious assets that one
can have. Certainly, health insurance is a huge priority to most
senior citizens. Protecting your health and making sure that you have
access to adequate medical care is one of the most important things
that you can do to make your life active and fulfilling. It is quite
obvious that accessible health care is not always affordable to
everyone in the United States. Recent publicity about Medicare reform
has made it clear that this is especially true for our nation's
seniors. This web page will seek to be a primer for senior citizens in
relation to some of the basics on health insurance for your daily needs.
Health insurance
types:
There are various different kinds of health insurance. While each has
different requirements and is run by different entities, it is
important to understand that many individuals combine several types of
insurance coverage to meet their needs. It may be confusing to deal
with all of these different types of health insurance coverage, but we
will seek to explain them in basic detail. The three different types
of insurance which will be discussed on this page are Medicare,
Medicaid, and private health-insurance policies, which will each be
described briefly on this page then covered in more detail on
subsequent pages.
Medicare health
insurance:
Medicare is a federally funded health insurance plan designed to help
pay for senior citizen’s health care needs. It basically has two
parts, Part A, which covers hospitalization and Part B which covers
outpatient services such as doctors visits. You are usually eligible
for Medicare just prior to your 65th birthday.
Medicaid:
Medicaid as a health insurance program ran by your state government in
conjunction with some financial assistance to your state by the
federal government. It is a program developed for low income
individuals (which may include seniors) and was originally intended to
be an insurance of last resort. Many people have heard some
information about "spending down to Medicaid", which means that a
person must use up most of his or her assets before they may qualify.
Private
health-insurance:
Private health insurance policies are usually provided by employers or
are purchased by individuals. These policies are provided by private
health insurance companies and premiums are paid for by employers,
employees or by other insured individuals. Some of these
private health insurance policies are referred to as Medigap
policies, which means that they are designed to specifically covered
things in which Medicare does not. Long-term care insurance is
a private insurance plan purchased specifically to cover the costs of
assisted living and nursing home care, which will be covered on
separate pages of this web site.
Some information provided by Seniors’ Rights by
Brette McWhorter Sember
Additional
information and web page by Paul Susic MA Licensed Psychologist
Ph.D. Candidate Clinical Director-
Senior Care
Psychological Consulting
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