If your family is anything like mine, everyone has a certain specialty or role in keeping the household running. Since I wash dishes faster than anyone, I’m the family dishwashing expert. I’m also the point man for paying medical bills. My wife and I have separate health coverage, so I have to make...

Driving near Monterey recently, I stopped at a roadside stand to buy some freshly-picked strawberries. May is high season for California strawberries, and the fields were exploding with beautiful, ripe fruit. The gentleman working the stand, Jack, asked what I do for a living. When I told him I work...

If you have Medicare, there’s a good chance you have two or more chronic conditions such as arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease or dementia. Two-thirds of the 57 million Americans with Medicare have two or more chronic illnesses. Having multiple chronic conditions increases the risk of death...

One recent Sunday morning, I woke up to a text message from a coworker saying she’d been up all night with her mother in the emergency room. Her mom had fallen, broken her hip, and was getting admitted to the hospital for surgery. As you can imagine, my colleague was exhausted, worried, and facing...

By Greg Dill This past holiday season, I found myself in line at the airport counter, waiting to check a bag prior to a flight to visit family and friends. The gentlemen in front of me got frustrated when the customer agent said he had to pay more to check a bag because he hadn’t paid for it online...

Not long ago, I had dinner with a group of friends from college. One of the big topics of conversation was Medicare, for which we’ll all be eligible in the next several years. (Farewell, callow youth!) And one of the biggest questions about Medicare was, “How much is it going to cost me?” Like...

When someone with Medicare finds his or her way to my office phone, it’s often because of a complicated and snarly issue that’s going to take time to fix. However, it’s sometimes a Medicare beneficiary who found my number somewhere and called for some basic help in understanding their coverage....

Sometime in late October, I’ll host the 12th Annual Friends of Elaine Kortzeborn Medicare Open Enrollment Party. Every year since 2005, I’ve helped a dozen or so my mom’s buddies review their Medicare Part D prescription drug insurance and make sure it still works for them. At first, I ran into...

As a person with Medicare, you have important rights. One of them is the right to appeal. An appeal is the action you can take if you disagree with a coverage or payment decision by Medicare or your Medicare health plan. For example, you can appeal if Medicare or your plan denies: * A request for a health...

Born in Canada, our mother came to the United States after World War II and blended into the Greatest Generation. Raising a family in the second half of the 20th Century saw her contribute to a thriving American society then maintain retirement health on Medicare. But in her early 90s, this tranquility...