If you didn't think you needed to plan for financing your healthcare, you should read this:

According to a recent NY Times article, Medicare is now planning on charging a surcharge for the standard monthly premium such that by 2009, those making over $200K will be paying 3.2 times the standard premium (of course, by 2009, the standard premium will also increase).

As a result of this increase, it is now very important to start planning ahead regarding your finances for healthcare during retirement. Life insurance, long term care insurance, health insurance, health savings accounts, etc. There are various options which can be further explored on ElderLawAnswers (the link is also on the right hand side under “links”).

Over the weekend we had written about UnitedHealth Group taking on the pharmaceutical industry by refusing to include Nexium in its coverage. We had hoped the savings the company would get would be transferred to the consumers. Hopefully this is not an indication to the contrary: According to the article When Choice of a Doctor Drives Up Other Bills in the NY Times by Richard Péréz-Peña, it seems Oxford, whose parent company is UnitedHealth Group, can (arbitrarily, we think) consider a hospital (normally in network) out of network just because the doctor chosen is out of network. Therefore, say there is a doctor (out of network) you absolutely love in an in-network hospital. You would assume all you have to pay is the deductible for using an out of network doctor—and all the hospital expenses are covered by the insurance. WRONG! A couple found out the hard way. Now, a formal complaint has been filed by the Healthcare Association of New York State regarding the case with Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office (if anyone can resolve this, he can!).

This, again, is further evidence that you need to plan ahead regarding your finances for healthcare.