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How can i find medicare policy/group number?

Posted on March 28, 2012 by

Question by ScienceIsKool: How can i find medicare policy/group number?
i need to fill out physical form for school to join a sport and they ask for insurance so i put in medicare, but they asked for a policy/ group #. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT IS… can some1 plz help me find it or tell me what it is plz!

Best answer:

Answer by sea monkey
are you disabled or not from the us? otherwise, medicare is not you primary carrier. look on your insurance card.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Posted in California Medicare | 1 Comment

Obamacare Fact Check: Two Years Later

Posted on March 23, 2012 by

Two years of Obamacare. Senate Democrats promised it would lower costs, lower premiums, cover everyone, and protect Medicare. Instead? Twice the cost, higher premiums, 23 million people left out, and 0 billion cut from Medicare. nrsc.org
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Posted in California Medicare | 4 Comment

Tax questions? Ask our experts

Posted on March 18, 2012 by

Tax questions? Ask our experts
What they can't do, of course, is offer legally binding answers to questions specific to your circumstances. “Because we can't possibly understand anyone's complete tax situation in one phone call, we'll give you our best advice based on what we know …
Read more on Savannah Morning News

David Sayen: What the health reform law does for medicare
David Sayen is Medicare's regional administrator for California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and the Pacific Trust Territories. You can get answers to your Medicare questions by calling 1-800-633- 4227.
Read more on Red Bluff Daily News

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Visiting Elderly Parents This Holiday Season? Aging Solutions Releases Tips For How To Assess Their Condition: Look, Listen and Pause

Posted on March 13, 2012 by


San Rafael, CA (PRWEB) December 25, 2011

Terri Abelar, CEO and founder of Aging Solutions, Inc. (http://www.agingsolutions.com), a client-centered care management company for the care of elderly and disabled adults has released the Eldercare Reality Check: Look, Listen and Pause just in time for the holidays, when thousands of adult children will be visiting their parents.

Heading home for the holidays to visit their families after a long break can stir up conflicting feelings for adult children. Theres the nostalgia of the old neighborhood, traditions to relive, the touchstones of memory. But when your parents reach a certain age, going home may also bring up sadness, worry, and apprehension: Are they still okay? What will I do if theyre not?

Currently One Quarter of Adult Children Are Providing Personal and Financial Care For Their Parents*.

According to a MetLife study published earlier this year, the share of adult children providing personal care and/or financial assistance to a parent has more than tripled over the past 15 years. Currently, a quarter of adult children, mainly baby boomers, provide these types of care to a parent.

But its also true that the physical and/or mental decline of adult parents is a touchy subject. The holidays are rarely the time for taking action for children who see problems with the parents; theyll likely tell them, perhaps loudly, that its none of their business how theyre doingcasting a pall over the holidays for everyone. But concern about how and when adult childrens parents might need their help is still a legitimate one. The best way to begin is to make a quiet, but informed, assessment over the holidays. Three things to keep in mind: Look, Listen, and Pause.

According to Aging Solutions CEO and Founder Terri Abelar, “The emotional burden of aging parents is spreading wider and getting heavier. Aging Solutions offers these tips Look, Listen and Pause to help adult children assess their loved ones situation in a general way and then to still take time to enjoy the holidays.”

Look

Look means looking for changes in your parents ability to carry out simple daily tasks, such as brushing their teeth, taking out the garbage, or putting away dishes. Do they do these tasks with more difficulty or less regularly? Is old food piling up in the refrigerator? Do they walk across a room freely, or are they touching furniture and walls to navigate? If so, they may be having balance problems. Observe how many medications your parents are taking and whether they are taking them in an organized way and according to directions. Medication mix-ups are an increasingly common cause of sudden changes in aging parents conditions, especially in this era of pervasive, nonstop medication marketing. Taking the wrong medication at the wrong time in the wrong dosage can lead to multiple problems that quickly snowball. When clients describe changes in a parents behavior, memory, speech patterns, or balance, our first suspect is a medication mix-up. Fortunately, when identified, the problem can be solved in a few days.

Listen

Listen means truly listening to your parents as you conversenot interrogating them because youre worried, or imposing your own expectations. Listen for vague phrases or clich

Posted in California Medicare | 0 Comment

Medicare Shared Savings Program: Application Process and Overview of the Advance Payment Model

Posted on March 8, 2012 by

In this National Provider Call from Nov 15, 2011 on the Medicare Shared Savings Program: Application Process and Overview of the Advance Payment Model Application, Dr. Donald Berwick opens the call with an introduction and overview of ACOs and the Medicare Shared Savings Program, followed by presentations by CMS subject matter experts. Agenda • Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs); • Different Paths Toward ACO’s; • Medicare Shared Savings Program Application Process; • Advance Payment Model; • Question and Answer Session.

Posted in California Medicare | 0 Comment

Medicare effort does little to improve care, study says

Posted on March 7, 2012 by

Medicare effort does little to improve care, study says
Work is ongoing to improve quality and patient satisfaction at all its hospitals. A key Medicare effort to publicize information about hospital quality may be doing little to improve care, a study suggests. The Hospital Compare website had no impact on …
Read more on Cincinnati Business Courier (blog)

CNBC EXCLUSIVE: CNBC TRANSCRIPT: REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MITT ROMNEY …
THAT THE DEBT HE'S AMASSED, THE JOBS HE HAS NOT CREATED SUGGEST THAT THIS IS A GUY WHOSE TIME HAS COME FOR EARLY RETIREMENT. KERNEN: WHAT DO YOU THINK THE PRESIDENT AND HIS PEOPLE ARE GOING TO SAY ABOUT YOU WITH THAT BILLION DOLLARS THEY HAVE, …
Read more on CNBC.com (blog)

Posted in California Medicare | 0 Comment

Odyssey Whistleblower Cases Bring $25 Million to the U.S. Treasury

Posted on March 5, 2012 by

Ft. Lauderdale, FL (PRWEB) March 02, 2012

Today, Cross Law Firm, S.C. and Nolan & Auerbach, P.A. jointly announce the settlement of their clients respective qui tam lawsuits against the for-profit hospice chain Odyssey Healthcare, Inc. Odyssey has agreed to pay the federal government $ 25 million to resolve two qui tam lawsuits which alleged, inter alia, that it submitted false claims to Medicare for continuous home care services that were not provided in accordance with requirements of the Medicare Program.

According to the qui tam complaints, Odyssey submitted false claims to the Medicare Program through a systemic pattern and practice of enrolling and re-certifying non-terminal patients, billing for continuous care when such care was neither reasonable nor necessary, and providing inadequate services and other violations of the Medicare Conditions of Participation. The lawsuits also alleged that the companys actions were in direct violation of a Corporate Integrity Agreement that Odyssey had signed in 2006 to quiet an earlier-settled qui tam lawsuit.

Registered Nurse Jane Tuchalski, one of the relators in Cross Law Firms complaint, was previously employed by Odyssey, where she worked on the front lines, providing direct patient care in Wisconsin. Nolan & Auerbachs client, Bryan Dingus, was privy to the inner workings of the companys billing practices as the former Executive Director of Odysseys Norfolk, Virginia hospice.

Our clients stood up and suited up for the American people against one of our countrys hospice giants, said Cross Law Firm partner Nola J. Hitchcock Cross. They are the real heroes of this fraud-fighting story.

The Medicare hospice benefit was designed to provide terminally ill patients with comfort and pain relief, as well as emotional and spiritual support. Continuous home care, which is a 24-hour nursing service, is allowed only during periods of crisis in which a Medicare beneficiary requires continuous care to achieve palliation or management of acute medical symptoms.

According to one of the lawsuits, Odysseys alleged billing schemes were buoyed by an aggressive marketing plan, which pushed sales representatives to meet high admission quotas of anywhere between six to twelve admitted patients per month. Many Medicare beneficiaries were allegedly accepted into hospice with scant or minimal documentation of a diagnosable, much less, terminal illness.

When a beneficiary elects to enroll in a hospice program, Medicare requires the patient to waive the right to receive Medicare-funded curative care related to his or her terminal illness, explained former federal prosecutor and Nolan & Auerbach, P.A. partner Marcella Auerbach. Patient care, not company profits, should drive this decision-making process.

Odyssey was expected to practice strict adherence to Medicare requirements after the prior lawsuit was settled, said Attorney Nola J. Hitchcock Cross, who brought the earlier qui tam case against Odyssey for Medicare fraud that was settled for about $ 12.7 million in 2006.

The False Claims Act allows private citizens with detailed knowledge of fraud to bring an action on behalf of the government and to assist in the recovery of the governments stolen healthcare dollars. The statute allows the government to recover three times the amount it was defrauded, in addition to civil penalties of $ 5,500 to $ 11,000 per false claim. Successful whistleblowers can receive between 15 and 30 percent of the governments recovery.

Jane Tuchalski, who alleged she had been fired due to her concerns about Odysseys conduct, resolved those claims confidentially. Employees need to know that the False Claims Act protects them against retaliation and that they can stand up for what is right, she explained.

Odyssey will pay the federal government $ 25 million to settle allegations raised in the qui tam lawsuits. The whistleblowers will collectively receive $ 4,687,500 from the settlement amount.

Too often, companies terminate employees who try to do the right thing, said Bryan Dingus. My hope is that my perseverance encourages others to expose business practices that improperly drain Medicare dollars.

The federal government was represented by an exceptional team of government attorneys, including Assistant United States Attorney Stacy C. Gerber Ward, U.S. Attorneys Office in the Eastern District of Wisconsin; Trial Attorney Jonathan H. Gold, U.S. Justice Department, Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch; and Assistant Inspector General for Legal Affairs Greg Demske, Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The whistleblowers cases are United States ex rel. Rouse, et al. v. Odyssey Healthcare, Inc., Case No. 08-C-0383 (E.D. Wis.) and United States ex rel. Dingus v. Odyssey Healthcare, Inc., Case No. 09-C-0254 (E.D. Wis.). Additional information is available at CrossLawFirm.com and Whistleblowerfirm.com.

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Posted in California Medicare | 0 Comment

Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans – Where Do I Start?

Posted on March 3, 2012 by

www.GordonMarketing.com Sylvia Gordon talks about Medicare supplement insurance plans for people turning or who are over 65 years of age. If you’re turning 65 and ever wondered – where do I start? We suggest that you watch this video. Contact Gordon Marketing if you need more information about medicare supplemental insurance programs. We can recommend agents located all over the country. Call us toll-free 1-800-388-8342
Video Rating: 5 / 5

The rules covering Medigap (Medicare Supplement Insurance) plans for people who have Medicare due to a disability are detailed.

Posted in California Medicare | 0 Comment

Has anyone ever heard of an insurance company called Providence American?

Posted on March 2, 2012 by

Question by .: Has anyone ever heard of an insurance company called Providence American?
I’m a senior looking for a medigap policy (j) and trying not to get conned.

I got a rate quote for plan j medigap policy from http://www.medigap360.com , the gentleman I spoke with found a policy offered by a company called Providence American. The rate was a low $ 116.36. This is east Texas, and I am in good health at 66.

I am not able to find a company called Providence American on google, but that is because when I type in that phrase even with words like medicare supplement insurance, I get a large amount of pages to wade through. It gives me a headache to read for too long on the computer.

Best answer:

Answer by Suzanne
Call your state’s insurance commissioner’s office and ask whether this company is licensed to issue Med Sup policies there. If they’re licensed, then they’re a reputable company.

The TX Department of Insurance’s Consumer Helpline can be reached by calling: 1(800)252-3439; in Austin, the number is 463-6515.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Posted in California Medicare | 2 Comment

Learn About Medigap Plans

Posted on February 29, 2012 by

www.MedicareMadeClear.com – Medigap Plans, also called Medicare supplement insurance plans, are designed to help pay some costs not paid by Original Medicare, Parts A & B. Watch and learn more about Medigap plans. Y0066_101101_095633 File & Use 11062010
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Posted in California Medicare | 0 Comment