We Have Opened Our Bonita Springs Office! We are excited to announce that we have opened an office in Bonita Springs, Florida.  Sarah Gravelin, who has been with Healthcare Navigation for four years, has relocated to Florida to lead the operation there.  For those of you in Florida who may not be familiar with our advocacy and consulting services, please feel free to reach out to Sarah Gravelin at 239-324-0430 ext. 1008 or email her at sgravelin@healthcarenavigation.com, she will be able

Medicare Part B Premiums May Soar for Some The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and most recently USA Today have covered the story of what MAY happen to 2016 Medicare Part B premium increases.  I have been reluctant to write because I believe the government will try to mitigate the increases reported.  Nevertheless, with the government announcement upon us, I am writing to provide information on this important subject. Background Everyone on Medicare Part B, except for lower-income Americans, pays a

Advance Directives Our ongoing clients sign authorizations which allow us to overcome privacy regulations and speak to just about anyone on their behalf. However, we don’t make healthcare decisions for clients. That’s another matter altogether and where an Advanced Directive or Living Will is important. That document expresses one’s desires about medical treatment at the end of life. A related document is a healthcare proxy sometimes referred to as a healthcare agent or durable power of attorney for healthcare. This document identifies

HMO Tips Open enrollment for 2017 Individual Plans finally came to a close at the end of January. This is the fourth open enrollment period for individual insurance since the Affordable Care Act reforms started to take effect in 2014.  This has been a tumultuous era.   Millions more people have coverage but many are paying more for their coverage and are not satisfied with their alternatives due to narrower networks of physicians and other providers and more overall restrictions. In some states,

Paul Krugman and the New York Times – All Wrong about Medicare Monday’s New York Times carried an extremely misinformed editorial by Paul Krugman, Messing with Medicare. If you’re looking for an intelligent column on the subject, read, David Brooks’s column, Medicare Survival Guide which appeared on May 27, 2011. Links to both are below. Paul Krugman: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/opinion/25krugman.html David Brooks: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/opinion/27brooks.html The most significant public policy issue facing this country today is how to manage the ever increasing cost of healthcare. The fact is that with private insurance and