Prescription Cost Relief Coming for Seniors
chisue
11 months ago
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Fran
11 months agoRelated Discussions
Teaching Financial Responsibility to a Senior Citizen
Comments (33)....take over her bill paying, and then giver her an allowance. Not knowing whether or not a financial Power of Attorney has been conferred, I'd be hesitant to recommend taking the responsibility of discharging another's debt. What would that mean? Paying out of your own pocket? Sign her checks for her? You can't legally sign another's checks without the granted power to do so. Perhaps the least intrusive and easiest thing would be to have her son's name added to her checking account. Even though my brother had my Mother's financial POA and took charge of asset management, etc., I had the responsibility of keeping up with the everyday things. I simply had my name added to her checking account when she was beginning the slide into Alzheimer's and getting farther and farther removed from taking care of her affairs. I seem to recall it was nothing more than a quick visit to the bank, signing a paper providing my SS#, etc. and ordering a new set of checks. I also understand what it is to try and engage a senior in other activities - sometimes it's just not in the cards. Either they're not joiners by nature or as they age there's a certain fear in trying new things that are a little outside of their comfort zone. My Mother gave up playing golf with the local ladies league at age 85 and we never could come up with something/anything even remotely close to replacing the enjoyment she got from that. From what the OP has written, it does seem her MIL is just aging and that bad habits are becomming magnified; she doesn't quite recognize her spending habits as unusual or that she's being taken advantage of by her sister. It might not be any one of the dementias one could put their finger on right now. It could be in the future....See MoreProperty tax relief for 2nd home owners in FL??
Comments (14)As to home property taxes, Does florida have an income tax? no..... so the money has to come from somewhere, after all florida builds roads ALL the time (I lived there for a decade, if its green pave it over seem to be the motto) The problem to many people isn't the property tax OR where the money is coming from. The problem lies in the fact that so many properties doubled and tripled within the last 5 years; coupled with our Save Our Homes Amendment. S.O.H. says we can't be assessed more than 3% each year. So 2 people can be living in identical houses one paid $100,000; the other 5 years later paid $500,000. The first pays around $2500 in taxes the second is paying over $10,000 in taxes. Needless to say the longterm homeowners could give a hoot less about what the new homeowners are paying. Long term homeowners will only be affected IF and when they decide to sell. It's a very heated issue and one that affects the major cities moreso than all of Florida. Which is why the politicians will walk away from the special session in a stalemate. One other thing. It's totally amazing how many of our cities are unable to cut millage rates. Many cities have seen their income literally double in 5 years, but most have built up no reserve and still cry "if they cut property taxes, we have to cut fire and police"....See MoreRx Relief Prescription Discount card . . . scam or real thing?
Comments (13)Forgive me, in advance, for my lengthy post... I am never short on words. Prescription discount cards are not new and they do work. In addition to the "questionable" organizations/companies many refer to in these related forums, they're also offered by legitimate organizations, profit and non-profit alike, and even some states! I'm sure someone may have already mentioned that but I didn't read ALL the postings, most but not all. My husband is on Medicare. I am 12 years younger and have no health insurance. We carried insurance when we owned and operated a family business, but the premiums (for a 10,000.00 deductible) became ridiculously high, plus we were paying everything out of pocket. We only had the insurance for that hope-it-never-happens catastrophic illness. We dropped the insurance and decided to start our own insurance "fund". However, that's just a bit of background. I take five prescription meds, one of which is very costly. I have three discount cards on file at my pharmacy (Walgreens) and am enrolled in Walgreens' prescription program for $20.00 per year. One discount card is through our state Farm Bureau as we are members. One is through the United Methodist Church organization as we are First United Methodists. The third is the Relief card and I have to be honest, I cannot remember receiving this card, however my memory isn't what it used to be. The pharmacy is supposed to run each of my new fills and refills through each discount program in my file. They often forget to do this and I have to remind them. I have saved MANY dollars by remembering to remind them. :) Case in point... this past week I refilled my most expensive med. I get a three month supply, which usually runs over $200.00 with one of the other discount plans (not Walgreens...I actually do not save much with them and am considering dropping that plan). When I picked up my refill, the tech told me it was over $400.00. My hair stood on end. I had them run it through all of my discount plans. I ultimately paid just over $60.00 for that three month refill. I asked which plan had saved me that much and was told the Relief plan. Now, maybe I'll be sorry somewhere down the line but I'm surely happy about it now. BTW... that med is a generic. Discounts are often deeper for generics. As for jeopardizing personal information, one person suggested that Walgreens would have to give out my DL# to these companies. I never voluntarily gave my DL# or SS# to Walgreens (or SS# to ANYONE), but my DL# is on my checks for anyone to see, as is my bank's routing number and my account number. I pay for meds with Walgreens' Express Pay, which means that they have a copy of one of my CC #'s on file. Since we travel a lot, I know that this number is in the Walgreens' system for any Walgreen's pharmacy to use, anywhere in the country, as I have had Rx's filled in other states. No problems with CC theft yet. As for submitting personal information, we do it in some way many times a year. Did you not give your name, birth date and state when registering for this site?? The page where I entered my information was not encrypted. Do you really trust this site's Privacy Policy just because it's there?? And, have you actually read it verbatim?? I doubt that many people read any or all Terms and Conditions before accepting them. I also checked the BBB for ScriptRelief, the company which issues the Relief Rx cards via Health Alliance. See link (copy and paste) http://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/business-reviews/medical-dental-discount-plans/script-relief-llc-in-new-york-ny-130619 There are 22 complaints listed, 14 of which are related to advertising/sales issues. It went on to say that the BBB knows of no government actions involving this company and that all 22 complaint issues were resolved by Script Relief. If you do a search for prescription discount cards, you'll find a whole host of them. And, if you search for "how they work", you'll find MANY articles. I wanted to find unbiased information that was not supplied by any of the discount plan companies and happened upon this one... simple but good...(copy and paste link) http://www.frugalconfessions.com/save-me-money/are-prescription-drug-discount-cards-for-real.php This author states that the companies offering the free discount RX plans make money through referral fees paid by pharmacies for each RX filled using the card, i.e. they want to get and keep customers who ultimately purchase much more than meds in their stores. Her research leads her to the conclusion that it can't hurt to sign on to one (or more in my case because different cards offer different savings on the same med) of these programs. One might argue that other people, private pay and with insurance, are paying more for those of us using discount cards. To this I say, I am private pay for all other medical visits, hospital stays, diagnostics, etc., and I'm sure that I am paying a higher price for those who get assisted relief from medical costs. My clinic and most hospitals offer a 5-10% discount for private pay, if the charges are paid in full. Who do you think makes up that difference? As for insurance, everyone's premiums are affected (and increased) by other people's claims, lawsuits, etc. It's a fact of life that we ALL pay for each other in some way or another. Sadly, it's just looked at negatively unless it's charitable and tax deductible. I've been using my discount cards for at least ten years. (Our son was too until he graduated from college and got a job with health insurance.) I still have my identity, no one has come looking to collect the difference I have saved on my meds all those years, and I'll keep using them until I woefully reach the age of Medicare, if Medicare is still a viable option when I get there because that money is really not there, (refer to our national debt) but that's a whole other topic for another time. I'm not trying to convince anyone to use the discount cards; just FYI'ing. I will keep using them and if I encounter a problem, I promise to post it. :)...See MoreHalf of US Births and Half of US Seniors...
Comments (42)I see you need to have the last word on something you're not part of, Elmer. We are NOT with Kaiser because it's the least expensive; we stay because we like our docs and our care. I'm certainly not going to go into personal experiences here but it's not fair of you to dish an hmo you have never had any part of, and with which many, many people are very happy. I suspect you have closer to concierge care, which this is not, but Kaiser works great for hundreds of thousands of people. It is an example of how a single-payer system works, and works well. We have all heard many non-Kaiser stories of incompetent docs and very long wait times. Our wait times appear to us to be far shorter than friends on other plans, even Stanford plans. :) Chisue, I have to disagree with you on the idea that there would be more jobs if employers didn't have to help subsidize healthcare. If recent history has taught us anything, it's that big business is all about keeping as much profit as possible. (Small businesses are a different story and I'm sorry when I see news articles not make the differentiation.) I believe if large businesses thought they could get away with not helping with insurance costs, they would do it in a heartbeat. The only answer is government-sponsered health care, again, as is done in every other economically viable country. Profit must be taken out of the equation, or there will continue to be a growing chasm between those who receive healthcare, and those who do not....See Morechisue
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