By Mary Johnson For the past 16 years, Medicare premium and deductible information has been routinely released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in September or October. But for reasons yet to be f ...

Healthcare costs are exploding for unsuspecting seniors this year.  Millions of Medicare Part D enrollees are impacted by a new government policy that required Part D insurers to reduce the number of plans they offered i ...

Healthcare reform legislation made vast changes to Medicare.  Although new benefits have been widely touted in the media, there are also new costs and other caveats to watch for.  Here’s a closer look: • Changes in Medi ...

By Mary Johnson Proponents of healthcare reform are confident that the public will warm to the new legislation, saying, “the more we learn about healthcare reform the more we will realize the benefits.”  But after slogg ...

Drug plans are covering a smaller number of drugs in 2008 than they did last year. What happens if your drug plan won’t cover a drug you need?  You might be surprised to learn there are things you can do to ensure that ...

By Mary Johnson, When Paula D. retired from her faculty position at a Virginia state community college and enrolled in Medicare at age 65, she qualified for supplemental Medicare coverage as a retiree benefit.  Paula, l ...

Start Now! By Mary Johnson TSCL has received a growing volume of email from seniors who say their new Part D or Medicare Advantage plan isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Many of you complain of higher-than-expected ...