Watch Out for Mistakes in the List of Doctors Covered by Your Medicare Advantage Plan

 

Medicare Advantage plans are a popular alternative to regular Medicare because the plans often offer lower out-of-pocket costs, but buyers need to make sure they know what they are paying for. A government review of Medicare Advantage plans revealed that their provider directories were often riddled with errors, causing those plans to face serious fines.

Medicare Advantage plans are provided by private insurers, unlike original Medicare, which is provided by the government. The government pays Medicare Advantage plans a fixed monthly fee to provide services to each Medicare beneficiary under their care. These plans are usually health maintenance organizations (HMOs) or preferred provider organizations (PPOs) that only cover care provided by doctors in their network or charge higher rates for out-of-network care. The plans often look attractive because they offer the same basic coverage as original Medicare plus some additional benefits and services that original Medicare doesn't offer.

Because Medicare Advantage plans have different coverage rules for out-of-network care, it is important to know which doctors and hospitals are in a plan's network. However, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) conducted a review of online provider directories for Medicare Advantage plans and found that there was incorrect information for half of the 5,832 doctors listed in directories for 54 Medicare Advantage plans that represented a third of all Medicare Advantage providers.

As a result of the review, CMS warned 21 Medicare Advantage insurers to fix the errors by February 6, 2017, or face serious fines. In 2016, CMS enacted a rule requiring plans to contact doctors and providers every three months to update their online directories. A Medicare Advantage plan can face a penalty of up to $25,000 a day per beneficiary if errors aren't corrected.

Before purchasing a Medicare Advantage plan, you should double check with the doctors and hospitals you use that they are covered by the insurance.

Preventing a Will Contest

 

Emotions can run high at the death of a family member. If a family member is unhappy with the amount they received (or didn't receive) under a will, he or she may contest the will. Will contests can drag out for years, keeping all the heirs from getting what they are entitled to. It may be impossible to prevent relatives from fighting over your will entirely, but there are steps you can take to try to minimize squabbles and ensure your intentions are carried out.

Your will can be contested if a family member believes you did not have the requisite mental capacity to execute the will, someone exerted undue influence over you, someone committed fraud, or the will was not executed properly.

The following are some steps that may make a will contest less likely to succeed:

• Make sure your will is properly executed. The best way to do this is to have an experienced elder law or estate planning attorney assist you in drafting and executing the will. Wills need to be signed and witnessed, usually by two independent witnesses.
• Explain your decision. If family members understand the reasoning behind the decisions in your will, they may be less likely to contest the will. It is a good idea to talk to family members at the time you draft the will and explain why someone is getting left out of the will or getting a reduced share. If you don't discuss it in person, state the reason in the will. You may also want to include a letter with the will.
• Use a no-contest clause. One of the most effective ways of preventing a challenge to your will is to include a no-contest clause (also called an "in terrorem clause") in the will. This will only work if you are willing to leave something of value to the potentially disgruntled family member. A no-contest clause provides that if an heir challenges the will and loses, then he or she will get nothing. You must leave the heir enough so that a challenge is not worth the risk of losing the inheritance.
• Prove competency. One common way of challenging a will is to argue that the deceased family member was not mentally competent at the time he or she signed the will. You can try to avoid this by making sure the attorney drafting the will tests you for competency. This could involve seeing a doctor or answering a series of questions.
• Video record the will signing. A video recording of the will signing allows your family members and the court to see that you are freely signing the will and makes it more difficult to argue that you did not have the requisite mental capacity to agree to the will.
• Remove the appearance of undue influence. Another common method of challenging a will is to argue that someone exerted undue influence over the deceased family member. For example, if you are planning on leaving everything to your daughter who is also your primary caregiver, your other children may argue that your daughter took advantage of her position to influence you. To avoid the appearance of undue influence, do not involve any family members who are inheriting under your will in drafting your will. Family members should not be present when you discuss the will with your attorney or when you sign it. To be totally safe, family members shouldn't even drive you to the attorney.

Bear in mind that some of these strategies may not be advisable in certain states. Talk to your attorney about the best strategy for you.

How to Deduct Long-Term Care Premiums From Your Income

 

Taxpayers with long-term care insurance policies can deduct some of their premiums from their income. Whether you can use the deduction requires comparing your medical expenses to your income in a complicated formula.

Premiums for qualified long-term care insurance policies are tax deductible to the extent that they, along with other unreimbursed medical expenses (including Medicare premiums), exceed 10 percent of the insured's adjusted gross income. In tax year 2016, taxpayers 65 and older only need medical expenses to exceed 7.5 percent of their income, but in 2017, taxpayers 65 and older will have the same 10 percent rule as everyone else.  

The amount of long-term care insurance premium that is deductible is based on the taxpayer's age and changes each year. For the 2016 tax year, taxpayers who are 40 or younger can deduct only $390 a year, taxpayers between 40 and 50 can deduct $730, taxpayers between 50 and 60 can deduct $1460, taxpayers between 60 and 70 can deduct $3,900, and taxpayers who are 70 or older can deduct up to $4,870 in premiums.

What this means is that taxpayers must total all of their medical expenses and compare them to their income. For example, suppose 64-year-old Frank has an adjusted gross income of $30,000 and long-term care premiums totaling $5,000 as well $1,000 in other medical expenses. Ten percent of $30,000 is $3,000. Frank can only deduct any medical expenses that exceed $3,000. The 2016 limit for deducting long-term care premiums is $3,900. That means Frank can only count $3,900 of his long-term care premiums. If he adds the $3,900 in long-term care premiums to the $1,000 in other expenses his total medical expenses are $4,900. He can deduct $1,900 in medical expenses from his income.

If Frank is 70 in 2016, the calculation changes because his medical expenses only need to exceed 7.5 percent of his income, which would be $2,250. The amount of premiums he can deduct is also increased because of his age--he can deduct up to $4,870 in premiums. Subtracting the income limit from his medical expenses ($4,870 in long-term care premiums and $1,000 in other expenses), Frank can deduct $3,620 in medical expenses from his income. In 2017, Frank will only be able to deduct medical expenses that exceeded 10 percent of his income, so the amount he can deduct will go down.