Those who are of age 65 or older, and eligible for social security, qualify to receive Medicare health insurance coverage. But even if senior citizens are eligible for Medicare, they often want more coverage than Medicare offers, and decide to purchase some form of private insurance that supplements Medicare. The following article explores some of the supplementary health insurance options that are available to senior citizens today.

Medigap

The health insurance that seniors purchase to supplement their Medicare policies is often referred to as Medigap insurance, a coverage option thus named because it is intended to fill-in the gaps that Medicare leaves. Medigap policies can be tailored to meet individual needs; they can be written to cover deductibles, prescriptions, and long term hospital care. Sometimes, they even provide coverage for nursing home stays.

Of course, the premiums for Medigap insurance will vary, depending on the level of coverage that is chosen. But it is important to note that, as long as premiums are paid, Medigap insurance plans are guaranteed to be renewable.

Sold by private companies, the rates for Medicare supplemental health coverage vary from company to company. For this reason, it is wise to compare the rates and benefits offered by several companies before you select one. With the convenience of being able to access information through the Internet, comparison shopping is no longer a difficult proposition; and you should make sure to do your research prior to making a commitment.

Long Term Health Insurance

Another type of health insurance that some senior citizens choose to purchase is long term care insurance. This type of insurance is specifically designed to cover the long term care that is usually given in places such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Medicare only covers a stay at a nursing home for the first 100 days, and often does not cover stays in assisted living facilities. Because the cost of the average nursing home is about $40,000 a year, it is easy to see how a person might quickly expend his or her life savings, if an extended stay in a nursing home or assisted living facility became necessary -- that is why long term health insurance is such a necessary consideration.

Purchasing long term care insurance removes the worry of having to pay for extended stays in a nursing home or assisted living facility. It also gives the patient and his family the freedom to choose the best facility, not simply the one they can afford with what little money is available. In addition, it protects a remaining spouse who is in good physical health from having to change his or her standard of living in order to make payments.

Medicare coverage is a great option for senior citizens. However, those who can afford it should look into additional coverage options that ensure they get the full spectrum and quality of care they need."

One of the biggest concerns when travelling to foreign countries is how to avoid catching bugs or a bad case of the 'tourist trots,' especially when your health insurance is not covering oversease health costs and you don't have a travel insurance. It can be hard to know what is safe to eat and what should be avoided. No matter how careful you are, however, it is very easy to unwittingly expose yourself to bacteria, germs and viruses. That is one reason why taking out travel insurance is very important.

Some basic awareness, plus following a few simple food hygiene tips, can help avoid a nasty case of Delhi Belly, Montezuma's Revenge, or whatever the affliction may be called in that part of the world:

* Make sure food is well cooked and very hot (to kill any bacteria present)
* Avoid food that may have been left sitting out at unsafe temperatures (i.e. buffets)
* Be wary of buying food and drinks from street vendors
* Avoid consuming sauces/condiments that have been left on tables
* Don't eat garnishes (they may have graced many plates!)
* Avoid drinking tap water, milk, and stay clear of ice cubes in drinks
* Avoid salads/lettuce (washed in water)
* Stick to sealed, bottled water or boil or purify it yourself
* Be wary of some airline food, especially if taken aboard in a foreign country
* When it comes to fruits and vegetables - if you can't peel it - don't eat it!

Be careful when consuming locally-produced drinks such as rice wine or 'arak' (several deaths occurred in Bali following ingestion of methanol-laced rice wine).

If you get sick with diarrhoea and/or vomiting it is important to stay hydrated. Sip purified water, tea or soft drinks (preferably drinks without a lot of sugar or additives). Only resort to using anti-diarrhoeal medicine when you are absolutely certain you need it, as the downside is developing constipation. Avoid drinking alcohol and eat dry food like crackers and toast until the worst is over.

In most cases, a bout of diarrhoea from contaminated food will knock you off your feet for a few days and the duration of the illness can vary. If symptoms persist or are unusually severe always seek medical help to rule out anything more serious. If outpatient tests are carried out, ask for copies to take with you and obtain receipts so that you can claim on your travel insurance. If hospitalization is required you will normally need to obtain authorization for treatment by calling the hotline provided in your travel insurance policy.

If you have been bitten by insects, especially mosquitoes, and develop suspicious symptoms like fever, chills or flu, always seek medical attention. Serious diseases like malaria take several days to incubate so symptoms may not appear until after you have returned home. If this happens arrange an appointment with your doctor and explain that you have been travelling.

A few more reminders:

* Always clean and treat cuts to avoid infection and Tetanus
* Carry a first-aid kit and hand-sanitizer with you
* Use mosquito-repellent products
* Wear light-coloured clothing to easily spot mosquitoes, ticks and bugs
* Take steps to guard against tick bites and Lyme Disease
* Be wary of swimming in fresh-water pools in tropical areas (however tempting it looks). It is possible to pick up parasitic infections like schistosomiasis from infected water
* Get all recommended vaccinations, including a Tetanus booster if needed
* Carry a list of contact numbers for the embassies in the areas you are visiting in case you need help finding an English-speaking doctor or other assistance

Other common ailments which can affect travellers include: Altitude sickness, heat stroke, heat exhaustion and serious sunburn. The latest concern to worry about is exposure to Swine Flu; if you think you may have been exposed and develop symptoms seek medical help. A good travel insurance policy should provide for emergency medical repatriation to get you back home once you are fit enough. However, always read the terms and conditions of your particular policy so that you understand the cover provided.

A wide variety of bad bacteria and diseases may just be waiting for an unwary victim or host like you to come along, so do your research and be prepared before leaving home. It is your trip, your money, your life - so use your brain - and don't make yourself an easy target for anything to bug you!

Written by Jean Andrews, who is a freelance writer living in the UK. She regularly contributes articles for Travel Insurance Agencies Ltd which offers great deals on UK Travel Insurance and Travel Insurance for residents of Eire.

The president Barack Obama is back from his trip and is expected to make health insurance and health care reform as its top priority of the week. Health care reform plan remains without progress in Congress the cost of health insurance being the major issue, as its point of contention.

On the Senate side, the Finance Committee has not yet released a draft reform plan, but it is starting to looking at ways to pay for the health care overhaul.

The Real Cost Of Health Care Reform

The latest idea, according to Senate Finance Committee Approach (source Bloomberg) is subjecting the capital gains income to 1.45 percent Medicare Tax. This can raise hundreds of billions of dollars for the health insurance coverage reform over the next ten years. This proposal comes after the Senate Democrats backed away from the plan to tax the employer based health insurance coverage.

On the House Side, the Ways & Means Committee is proposing a surtax on high earner to fund health insurance reform. This will apply to households earnings more than $250,000 dollars a year. It is expected that 2.4 percent of U.S. taxpayers will be hit by this surtax and it will help to raise $375 billion dollars over the next ten years, according to the Center for Tax Justice.

Bloomberg's Health Care correspondent Kristin Jensen speaking from the D.C. newsroom says the main action today on health care is in the House. Today we may see their draft on the health care bill and we may also see the surtax on the wealthy Americans. The latest is obviously of interest to many Americans as they want to see how this surtax will shake out their pockets to fund the health insurance reform.

The Senate really hasn't landed there yet. We hear that the surtax is one of the options that they are considering, but it is for the very very wealthy Americans, starting at $350,000 income level. However, they haven't settled that yet. It will be interesting to see how the Senate program on health care reform will come out.

Main Sticking Point To Fund Health Insurance Reform

The House bill, which is mainly pushed by the Democrats has one main sticking point. It is the tax hike, suggested to pay for the health care reform. However, some conservative Democrats and Republicans say they are not involved in it. They are worried about the method of the taxing and say they would like to see some of those taxes coming from within the health care system.

So there are two issues: the cost and the public option. The cost of the health care reform will be a stumbling block. Also, the House has embraced the Public Health Insurance option, which they have to reconcile in the Senate. So this will be another issue.

Obama and the health care debate

The president has so far stayed out of the the health care reform negotiations. He actually has done the opposite of what the Clintons have done. However, a lot of Senators are saying that he needs to take a more active role in the the negotiations of how to fund health insurance coverage for millions of Americans and we expect him to do that in the upcoming days.

A representative in the U.S. House of Representatives will reintroduce legislation to help small employers pay for their employees’ small business health insurance, reports Astrid Fiano in DOTMed Business News. The CHOICE Act, according to sponsor and chair of the House Small Business Committee Nydia Velasquez, will do the following:

• Offer a tax credit equal to 65% of the cost of health insurance offered to employees
• Allow multiple small companies to pool their employees in voluntary health collectives, which will result in lower health insurance rates because of the reduction in insurers’ risk
• Set the stage for a possible health insurance mandate for small employers, to be partly paid for by the aforementioned tax refund

The bill promises to lift some of the burden off the small companies that are known to be major drivers of the American economy and has bipartisan support.

In the New York Post, Brendan Scott reported on shocking findings that New York City health insurance premiums have seen a significant increase over the past year, while many New Yorkers are already struggling economically. Here are some sobering statistics:

• From April 2008 to April 2009, the average monthly health insurance premium for a family has risen from $3,866 to $4,354; a 13% increase.
• Six out of the eight health insurers in the NYC area have increased their rates, including Aetna, Atlantis Health Plan, and Oxford Health Plans, Brendan says.
• Insurance companies blame the rate increases on an exodus of healthy policyholders leaving them with only the sickest (and costliest) patients, in addition to the state’s co-payment structure and high mandated coverage minimums.

On the bright side, Empire HealthChoice HMO actually decreased its premiums. Not to mention that patients who remained in-network for their health care pay less: a family who agreed to stick to in-network providers paid just $2,996 per month on average. That’s still a 12% increase over last year, but a significant savings nonetheless.

Timothy P. Carney, a columnist with the Washington Examiner, recently penned an article about the pending health care reform proposals that are being debated. Mr. Carney’s speculation is that the health insurance companies will win at the end of the day and their proposal will be accepted by Obama and his administration.

J.D. Powers & Associates rated the top private health plans in the heartland states (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota), and the results were as follows.

Similar to many of the other 17 regions in the JD Power Survey, a Blue Cross Blue Shield health plan took top honors.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska was named the top health plan in this region based on overall customer experience and among the best in the nation.

Three other Blue Cross plans were rated as “better than most” (4 stars out of 5 in overall experience): BCBS Kansas, Wellmark BCBS Iowa, and BCBS Kansas City.

Health plans Aetna, CIGNA, UnitedHealthCare, and Coventry Healthcare were rated as being below average.

More information about health insurance in the heartland states: Nebraska health insurance, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota

According to the article “Don’t forget rural issues when revamping health care system” from PrairieStar.com, the health care debate is a big issue for our American farmers. Rural health care is an issue that has been around for a long time and needs attention now more than ever.

Many farm families have one spouse working in town to provide health insurance for the family, while the other works on the farm. If both spouses work on the farm they have the option to purchase individual health insurance, or they may be fortunate enough to belong to a cooperative that has a health insurance plan for them to participate in.

Often farmers have high deductibles and forego preventative care to save money. They hope for the best that nothing will seriously go wrong with their health. But this is a huge risk as many health risk factors go undetected by the patient. And agriculture is an occupation where accidents happen and medical attention is often crucial. Rural hospitals are closing at high rates meaning that farmers have to travel even farther to receive medical care. Ambulance services also are facing staffing issues.

According to National Rural Health Association, one of the reasons for rural hospitals closing is Medicare reimbursement. The organization claims they are paid back much slower than urban areas in America causing for financial difficulties. Also, doctors are leaving to seek higher paying jobs in urban towns contributing to hospital closings. Health insurance rates are increasing more and more every year and Congress may be missing a very large part of the health care debate if they don’t pay attention to the issue of rural health care. It is a concern that has been around for decades and it’s time it be addressed for our American farmers.

The nation has 8.6 million children who lack public or private health insurance and 1.3 million of them are in California, Families USA, a Washington-based advocate for expanded health access, says in a report based on new census data.

California, the nation's most populous state, is just behind Texas in the numbered of medically uninsured children, Families USA says, and at 12.5 percent has the nation's 12th highest rate. Texas is No. 1 at 20.5 percent.

Families USA, confirming previous reports, says that 88.2 percent of uninsured children come from families with at least one working adult. Families without earned income usually qualify for one of the public medical plans such as Medi-Cal. It's been estimated that more than 6 million of the state's 38 million residents lack health insurance.

Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tried and failed to gain legislative approval of a plan to cover virtually all of California's uninsured residents. The full Families USA report is available here.

EcommerceTimes.com reports that an annual survey has found that less small businesses are offering health insurance to workers. The study also found that health insurance costs have risen over 9% on average in 2005 and rose over 11% on average in 2004.

Released yesterday, the annual survey of employers' health benefits found that for the first time in nearly a decade, less than half of businesses with nine or fewer workers offer health insurance. Among those small firms, 47 percent provided coverage in 2005, down from 58 percent in 2002 and 53 percent in 1996.

"Small businesses have made the call that to stay alive, health care isn't something they can provide. I think it's a tragic calculation," said Peter Lee, president of Pacific Business Group on Health, which buys health insurance for large employers.

"The danger of that is that small business is the driver of the American economy," he said.

The survey also found that the cost of health insurance for working Americans grew by 9.2 percent this year, ending four consecutive years of double-digit increases but still far outpacing the rate of inflation. Premiums increased an average of 11.2 percent in 2004.

Clearly the high costs of health insurance is why less small businesses are offering coverage. The article also said the employers that do offer coverage are often opting for less attractive plans like health plans with higher deductibles.

The Media Cynic reports on the new HIMMAA bill that would allow health insurance companies to drop coverage for several women's health procedures and health needs. The Media Cynic says the bill will override state law protections that require health insurance companies to continue covering women's healthcare items and procedures including annual cervical cancer exams and contraception. The bill also requires women to go to a primary care doctor first and not directly to an ob/gyn. The Cynic explains why passing this bill would be a huge mistake.

The arrogance of these lawmakers is simply breathtaking. Women have fought for years for these protections, such as not being forced to change doctors mid-pregnancy just because her doctor is dropped from her insurance plan. If insurance doesn't cover screenings for routine cervical cancer exams, many women won't have them. Most women use their OB/GYN as their primary doctor, relying her to get the correct care and screenings for everything from cancer to osteoporosis: women will have to go to another gateway doctor first before they can get to their OB/GYN under most insurance plans. And the law is so broadly written that many more procedures won't be required to be covered.

The Senate should not pass this awful and unfair bill.

A common thread is emerging in the right wing response to healthcare reform. Its opponents aren't claiming that public healthcare will be bad. Rather, they are terrified that the new system will be so good that no citizen would buy expensive private insurance--or vote for politicians who wanted to take public insurance away.

The Obama team is sending clear signals that healthcare reform is a core economic issue, and the health insurance industry is becoming increasingly anxious by the future administration's determination to bring healthcare costs under control. Some Americans are seeing their healthcare premiums rising at four times the rate of inflation, if t ey have insurance at all. Healthcare reform is a pocketbook issue for all of us, according to the Obama team.

In tough economic times it might be tempting to postpone healthcare reforms, but Obama is adamant that delay would be a false economy.

In the American Prospect, Joanne Kenen and Sarah Axeen support claims about the high cost of doing nothing:

A recent report by the New America Foundation's health-policy program estimates that the cost of doing nothing about health care, including poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured, is well above $200 billion a year and rising. That's enough to cover the uninsured and still have some left over for other public-health needs.

If healthcare costs continue to rise at their current rates, it will cost $24,000/yr to insure a family of four by 2016, an 84% increase from today. At these rates, half of American households would have to spend at least 45% percent of their income to be insured.

In the Nation, Willa Thompson describes how a bicycle crash made her appreciate the connection between healthcare and politics. Thompson was 21 years old when she suffered major injuries after a collision with a truck. Luckily, she was covered by her parents' medical insurance until she turned 22. She later realized that if she had been just a few months older when the accident happened, she wouldn't have been able to pay for her medical care.

We all agree that something needs to be done. Let's briefly review the options that have been proposed so far. Obama wants to provide healthcare for all by requiring private insurance companies to cover everyone and creating a public health insurance plan to compete with private insurers. The second part of his plan is the public option that Republican opponents are so scared of.