All posts by Barbara Nevins Taylor

All 55 Plus, Medicare

3 Tips to Choose Medicare Plan D

Tip 2

FIND OUT ABOUT THE RULES

Individual insurance companies set rules that can make it difficult to get the medication that you need and want. That’s why it’s a good idea to find out exactly what an insurer will and will not cover, and exactly how the drug plan functions. If you’re like me you want to avoid as many unpleasant surprises as possible.

1. PRIOR APPROVAL

Some insurers require that you get prior approval from them before they will pay for certain drugs.

How do you know which drugs they will cover?

  • Most insurers have some kind of “tool” on their website that lets you look up the medication that you want.

How do you get prior approval?

  • You or your doctor will have to download a form from the insurer’s website, fill it out and submit.

2.  STEP THERAPY

What’s Step Therapy? 

Step therapy is  the term insurance companies use when they want you to use generic drugs before you can move on to get a brand name prescription medication. This may be infuriating, but often doctors will go along with it because they don’t want to fight the insurance company every step along the way. Joe Baker of the Medicare Rights Center says, “Many times doctors will say, ‘Okay. Let’s try something else first.'”  If the generic drug doesn’t work, then the you have to back to the insurer and appeal.

If you can’t live with the rules, this drug plan is not for you. There are choices and you shouldn’t settle for a Part D plan that is going to be difficult for you to deal with.

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Insurance News, Money News, News

Anti-Obamacare Ads Get Ugly

The propaganda campaign is underway to try to convince young people not to sign up for Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act. You can judge for itself whether it’s in good taste, fair or even responsible. I vote no on all of those counts.

Signup for Obamacare begins on October 1. It’s scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2014 and young people in their twenties who are not still covered by their parents insurance can begin to get affordable health care. Many will get assistance or tax rebates to help pay the monthly fees. A June poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that seven in ten young adults consider health insurance as very important and worth the money. Just a quarter of 18-30 year-olds said they felt healthy enough to go without health insurance.

Enter the anti-everything Obama brigade.

A group called Generation Opportunity based in Arlington, Virginia launched two weird videos on YouTube. In one a young woman walks through a doctor’s office. She says she’s just signed up for Obamacare. She’s brought into an examining room and told to change into a gown. The doctor enters and asks her to put her legs up in the stirrups. Then the doctor disappears and a creepy, cartoonish Uncle Sam character pops up. The screen says, “Don’t Let Uncle Sam Play Doctor.” And then, “Opt-Out. Visit OptOut.org. There’s a similar video aimed at guys. In it a young man goes into the office and says he signed up for Obamacare.  A male doctor enters the examining room, and asks him to drop his pants. When he does, the creepy Uncle Sam jumps up. The same messages appear at the end of this video.

Nasty stuff.

Chris Moody of Yahoo News says that Generation Opportunity, “…is part of a coalition of right-leaning organizations with financial ties to billionaire businessmen and political activists Charles and David Koch.” We haven’t gotten a response to requests for a comment from spokespeople at Koch Industries. At Generation Opportunity spokesman David Pash says, “I can’t comment on our funding.” But he did say the group plans to bring their anti-Obamacare campaign to 20 college campus in the next few weeks. While he’s not sure which campuses they’ll visit he says, “The goal is to highlight for young people that there are other health insurance options available.”

You can find out the truth about the Obamacare and the new health marketplaces at HealthCare.gov

Read: Obamacare Fraud Warnings

Young, No Health Insurance? You May Qualify for a Subsidy

 

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Banking News, Latest News, Money News, News

Millions of Chase Customers Get Payback



This is the kind of story that you report and shake your head about. Why would a big company, a reputable bank, charge fees for non-existant services? Well, here goes the story:

2.1 million Chase customers will get refunds adding up to $309 million because of illegal credit card fees. Chase Bank USA, N.A. and JPMorgan Chase Bank will also have to pay a $20 million penalty. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) found that Chase charged some credit card customers for credit monitoring services that they did not receive.

CFPB Director Richard Cordray said, “At the core of our mission is a duty to identify and root out unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices in financial markets that harm consumers. This order takes action against such practices…”

The CFPB says that Chase enrolled consumers in credit card “add-on” products that promised to monitor customer credit and alert consumers to potentially fraudulent activity. Customers were billed for these services before they even signed up for them and and many were apparently billed even though they never signed up. The practice started in October 2005 and ended in June 2012.

 
CFPB CHARGES

  •  Consumers were charged fees as soon as they enrolled for these add-on products, which include identity theft protection and fraud monitoring.
  • Monthly fees ranged from $7.99 to $11.99 even though the promised services were not performed. In some cases, consumers paid for these services for several years without receiving all of the promised benefits.
  •  The unfair monthly fees that customers were charged sometimes resulted in customers exceeding their credit card account limits, which led to additional fees for the customers. Some consumers also paid interest charges on the fees for services that were never received.
  • Consumers were under the impression that their credit was being monitored for fraud and identity theft, when, in fact, these services were either not being performed at all, or were only partially performed.

 

PAY BACK

While this announcement was made on September 19, 2013, the CFPB says most Chase customers have already received credit to their accounts or checks in the mail.

 

DID YOU GET A REFUND? TELL US YOUR STORY. 
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Money News, News, Scam News

Scam Survey

Please take ConsumerMojo.com’s Scam Survey. We want to find out what’s happening to our friends and neighbors.

It’s easy to fall victim to a scam, and it can happen to anyone. A study at the University of Exeter in England found that smart, successful people often sign on to scams because they are easily persuaded.  The same researcher also found that people who were very knowledgable about a specific area might be over- confident and jump into a scheme that’s really too good to be true.

Yet, studies also show that older adults may be more vulnerable to scams because they read facial clues differently. Dr. Shelley E. Taylor at the University of California, Los Angeles found that older adults are more likely than younger people to see people as trustworthy when they may not be. In addition, brain scans found that when older and younger adults were shown the same pictures of suspicious people the anterior insula, the area of the brain that works out gut feelings, lit up. But older adults didn’t have the same neurological reaction.

While older people may be more vulnerable, we do know a lot of younger people who’ve jumped into scams thinking they would come out on the winning end. That’s why the F.B.I. has a list of Frauds from A-Z and recommends that you file a complaint if you’ve been targeted.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regular prosecutes scammers of all kinds to put them out of business and get restitution for victims. If you have a complaint about a telemarketing scam, identity theft, Internet scams, shopping frauds, job scams, work at home scams and credit and debt scams the FTC’s complaint line is a good place to make your voice heard.

 

Click the link to take our survey and let us know what’s happening with you. SCAM SURVEY

 

 

All 55 Plus, Consumer News, News, Scam News

Prescription Drug Scam Crackdown

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Prescription drugs are so expensive that many go to great lengths to try to save money and it’s no wonder that they become vulnerable to ripoffs.  The most recently discovered scam involves an audacious team of Canadian and American scammers that teamed up to allegedly target older Americans and literally lifted money out of bank accounts.

Courtesy Wikimedia
Courtesy Wikimedia

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, found the group made calls from a telemarketing boiler room in Montreal to Americans over 65.

They allegedly offered their victims discount prescriptions, and in some cases discount cards that are widely available but useless for people on Medicare or Medicaid. They convinced people to give them bank account numbers and allegedly the American part of the team then used “demand drafts” to take $300 from each account.

A complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois says that callers often said, or inferred that they were from Medicare or the Social Security Administration and people were frequently confused and frightened enough to give up their banking information. In return, they received either nothing or the virtually worthless discount card.

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order halting the defendants’ deceptive scheme and freezing their assets.

“This scam, which targeted and deceived our nation’s seniors, is as cynical and wanton as they come,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “We look forward to bringing this operation to a halt and working to get relief for the victims.”

The end game here is to put the scammers out of business and to get restitution for the victims.

The U.S.-based defendants in the case include AFD Advisors, LLC, of Wisconsin, which also does business as AFD Medical Advisors; AMG Associates, LLC, of Delaware, which also does business as AMG Medical and AMG Medical Associates; Aaron F. Dupont, individually and as an officer of AFD Advisors and AMG Associates; CAL Consulting, LLC, of Georgia,  which also does business as Clinacall; Charles A. Lamborn, III, individually and as an officer of CAL Consulting; and Park 295 Corp, of New York.

The Canadian-based defendants are 9262-2182 Quebec Inc; Stephanie Scebba, individually and as an officer of 9262-2182 Quebec Inc.; 9210-7838 Quebec Inc; and Fawaz Sebal, also known as Frank Sebag, individually and as an officer of 9210-7838 Quebec Inc.
REMEMBER DO NOT GIVE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT INFORMATION TO ANY CALLER,  NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY.

watchmore Tips for Choosing a Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan

 

 


Helpful Tips: travel, Helpful Tips:All, News, Travel News

Love a Hotel With Free Wi-Fi


by Barbara Nevins Taylor

It’s a pleasure to find a beautiful hotel that offers free Wi-Fi.  I was genuinely surprised recently when I checked into the Hyatt Grand Hotel in Aspen, Colorado and learned that Wi-Fi was free.

So many hotels add a fee and the charges often come as a shock when you check out.

But the Hyatt Grand offered this unexpected bonus. First of all, the room was large, lovely and comfortable. The beige stone bathroom area had a spa-like shower and tub and everything about it felt luxurious.  So I was delighted, but I was even more pleased when I called the desk for the Internet password and asked if there was a fee for in-room use. “There isn’t any,” the receptionist said.

But I didn’t go to Aspen to sit in the room and work online and the hotel provided other pluses. It’s perfectly situated almost at the base of the mountain. It’s built in a horseshoe style around a heated swimming pool and hot tub area that offer dreamlike mountain views. 

While the front of the hotel doesn’t look like much, you have quick and easy access to Aspen’s restaurants and pricey stores.

For bike riders, it’s easy to get in and out. That’s why we were there. My sister Hope and brother-in-law Ed were part of a group that rode 60 miles from Dotsero, Colorado to Aspen. And my husband Nick was in another group that rode 30 miles from Carbondale to Aspen.

I was the designated driver and made the spectacularly scenic trip from Edwards through the Glenwood Canyon to join the others so that there would be a vehicle for the ride home.

I rented a clunky bike at the hotel and rode about 10 miles down and back along the Rio Grande trail.

This was a pretty easy ride on the bike-and-hike-only path that begins at about 7900 feet. It starts out paved and then turns to gravel. All the way along, it offers rugged Rocky Mountain views and close up encounters with waterfalls and the river.

I won’t swear to it, but it I think I dodged lumps of big bear droppings on the path.

The next day, while Ed was doing another bike ride, Hope, Nick and I hiked up Ajax, or Aspen Mountain.

We either misunderstood the trail advice we got, or went the wrong way. But this was a tough climb.

Scenic for sure and a little fox crossed our path. But while we got pretty far, we had to turn around before we reached the top where a lift would have brought us down. Instead, we slowly but surely made our back down praying to keep our knees in working order.

It was great two-day trip from our base in Edwards where Hope and Ed live, and I recommend a visit to Aspen and a stay at the Hyatt Grand to all who like the active life.

You can find our list of  hotel chain policies and charges in our post Watch Out For Hotel Room Wireless Charges.

 


Helpful Tips: Mortgage and Homeowners, Helpful Tips:Money, Vids: Mortgage and Housing

Banks Taking Back Homes – Find a Foreclosure

Here’s a paradox. Foreclosures are down but banks are taking back more homes. The latest news from RealtyTrac found that in August 2013 foreclosure filings decreased 2 percent from the previous month and were down 34 percent from August 2012.

 

Photo by ConsumerMojo.com
Photo by ConsumerMojo.com

 

That’s great news for many families and the economy. But repossessions in August increased 6 percent from the previous month. A little good news here is that they while they increased they were still down 25 percent from a year ago.


Bank reposessions, or REO’s, increased from the previous month in 26 states and were up from a year ago in 23 states. In New York they were up 123 percent to a 34-month high. Emmett Laffey, CEO of Laffey Fine Homes International, covering Long Island and New York City, said, “It is surprising that the number of default notices has risen so sharply… Some of the increase could be caused by a late ripple effect from Hurricane Sandy.”

In New Jersey bank repossessions were up 63 percent to a 31-month high. In  Florida they were up 48 percent to a seven-month high. In Ohio they were up 46 percent to an eight-month high and in Indiana, up 41 percent to a 9-month high.

The RealtyTrac data shows that Nevada now tops Florida for the sad distinction of having the highest foreclosure rate in the nation. Florida comes in second with Ohio, Maryland and Delaware following close behind.

Miami, Port St. Lucie, Jacksonville, Ocala, Tampa and Orlando are the Florida cities with the highest foreclosure rates. Riverside-San Bernandino, California, Las Vegas, Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C. had more foreclosures so far in 2013 than in 2012.

FORECLOSURE OPPORTUNITIES

Banks are selling those foreclosed properties and our video and free guide tell you what you need to know to How Do I Find a Foreclosure

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 Mortgage Guide  Download Our Free Guide

 

 

readmoreHome Buying in the Chilly Season

 

Helpful Tips: Consumer, Helpful Tips:All, Helpful Tips:Scams, News

Costco Name Used In Facebook Scam


I received three notifications from Facebook from someone named Sean Ritchie. Basically, he was pushing a scam that led Facebook users to believe they could sign up to get a free $500 gift card from Cotsco.

The links led you to something called My Free Costo.com.   Paul Latham a weary sounding Costco executive told me he’d never hear of the $500 offer, or the site. He said, “These things happen all of the time. It’s so easy to to put up scams on the Internet and it’s difficult to track down the scammers.

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It looks like the posting is removed from Facebook now. But it has popped up before and who know what will happen in the future. It does remind us of the need to watch out for these two-good-to-be-true deals. While you think you are signing up for something great and may have the chance of  lifetime, you’re actually giving a scammer access to your personal information. That can be disastrous.

Scammers tell you that you will get something for free, but first you need to give them bank information, or social security numbers, or access to other personal information.

 

Courtesy Creative Commons via Flickr
Courtesy Creative Commons via Flickr

They can clean out your bank account, or use your information in identify theft frauds. Often, when scammers promise to give you something, they ask for money to help secure your “free prize.” Once you sent the money, you either get a bunch of junk mail or nothing at all.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) offers these warnings:

  1. Disreputable companies sometimes use a variation of an official or nationally recognized name to give you confidence in their offers. Don’t be deceived by these “look-alikes.” It’s illegal for a promoter to misrepresent an affiliation with — or an endorsement by — a government agency or other well-known organization.
  2. It’s important to read any written solicitation you receive carefully. Pay particularly close attention to the fine print. Remember the old adage that “the devil is in the details.”
  3. Some contest promoters use a toll-free “800” number that directs you to dial a pay-per-call “900” number. Charges for calls to “900” numbers may be very high.
  4. Disclosing your checking account or credit card account number over the phone in response to a sweepstakes promotion — or for any reason other than to buy the product or service being sold — is a sure-fire way to get scammed in the future.

REPORT A SCAM to the FTC go to ftc.gov/complaint

 

 

 
Helpful Tips: Consumer, Helpful Tips: Insurance, Helpful Tips:All, Helpful Tips:Money

Young, No Health Insurance? Maybe You Qualify For A Subsidy

We’re sharing this calculator created by the Kaiser Family Foundation with you.

You may be surprised to learn that subsidies are available if your income is low. This is especially important for you if you are in your twenties or thirties and just starting out in a career.

Pundits call you the Millennials, and the Invincibles. But accidents happen. People get sick. Health insurance is a good thing, and there’s no shame in taking a subsidy if you deserve one. Play around with the calculator to see where you stand.

Here’s an example: Let’s say you earn $30,000. That puts you at 261 percent of the poverty level for 2014. You qualify for a subsidy. So while you might be scheduled to pay $3,163 a year, you could receive a government subsidy of $651 and end up paying $2,512 a year.

So who needs to sign up?

If you don’t have employer-based insurance and are uninsured, you can begin to sign up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) starting October 1st. If someone asks you to sign up before, or asks you for information in advance, it’s a scam. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating these ripoffs. But after October 1st, you can go online, make a phone call or write to an insurance exchange to find out how to get the insurance.

25 states agreed to participate in Marketplace Exchanges. They are getting money from the federal government to set up helplines and offer you options. The people who are providing the information are called Navigators and the Department of Health and Human Services gave $67 million to groups, mostly non-profits, to do the explaining. If your state isn’t participating, you can go directly to the federal government website: HealthCare.gov. Individual insurance companies and brokers are also available to explain the options to you. But be aware that brokers are not required to explain the full range of options to you, and there is the potential for fraud so you have to be very careful and ask a lot of questions.

Penalties for Not Signing Up

The idea behind the Affordable Health Care Act is to get as many people insured as possible to ultimately keep down health care costs. That’s why there are penalties for not signing up. Starting in 2014, your tax forms will ask whether you have insurance. If you don’t you’ll be fined $95 or one percent of your taxable income, whichever is greater. The penalties are expected to change over the next three years.

You have until March 31, 2014 to sign up. The insurance begins after you make your first monthly payment.

 

readmoreObamacare Signup Continues

All 55 Plus, Latest News, Medicare, Vids: 55 Plus, Vids:Medicare

Time to Change Your Medicare Part D Plan?

 

Our video, with experts from the Medicare Rights Center and Center for Medicare Advocacy, explains what you need to know about the Open Enrollment period. This is an important time to to take advantage of the opportunity to change your Part D plan.

The open enrollment period began on October 15th and runs until December 7. So now is the time to consider  a change to your Medicare Part D plan. You might want to choose another plan with your current insurer, or even choose another. Why should you?

Good question.

 

WHY CHANGE YOUR DRUG PLAN?

 Your insurer may not list your drug on its “formulary.” The “formulary,” is what the insurer calls its list of approved drugs.

Every insurer has a variety of plans, and each plan has it’s own list of approved drugs. It’s maddening that there is not a uniform policy. But this is the way it is.

 

Courtesy Creative Commons via Flickr
Courtesy Creative Commons via Flickr

So even if you have a happy relationship with your insurer, they may have changed things up on you. It’s really important to check your mail. If you received a notice that said something about important changes, open it.

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by ConsumerMojo.com
Photo by ConsumerMojo.com

Don’t dump it on the pile of mail.

It’s likely that there is something in the notice that tells you the insurer has added approved drugs, or removed others. Check to see if your medication is on either list  

Tip 1

  • Make a list of your prescription drugs
  • Match your list to what the plans offer

Tip 2

       Check to see how your insurer categorizes your drug in its tier system.

 

The tier system is a complicated way of explaining that you’ll pay more for certain drugs.

Tier 1 drugs are cheaper, than Tier 2. Tier 3 drugs are more expensive than Tier 1 and Tier 2. And Tier 4 will cost you the most. 

 

Tip 3 

Read the rules the insurer outlines. It’s essential to know whether the company will require you to get prior approval or require you to use a generic drug for a test period called “Step Therapy.” In “Step Therapy,” it will require you to use a generic drug or several generic drugs before it approves a brand-name drug for payment.

Or, the insurer may limit the quantity of medication that you can get. It’s important to look at these rules because they can cost you money and make your life hellish if you don’t understand the benefits and the limitations.

  • Prior approval
  • Step Therapy
  • Quantity Limits

 

 

readmore  Figuring Out Medicare Basics

 

readmore Medicare Basics for Boomers and Everyone Else

 

watchmore Medicare Part B, Boomers and Costly Mistakes

 

watchmore Choosing Power of Attorney Tips

 

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Consumer News, First Person, Travel News

Labor Day Praise For American Airlines Employees And Others

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by Barbara Nevins Taylor

 

Employees of American Airlines win our badge for great service and follow-up. And this is personal.  During the last week of August, my husband Nick and I headed for a week of biking and hiking in the Colorado Rockies. We flew out of LaGuardia in New York, changed planes in Dallas and quickly boarded another to Eagle, Colorado. The connections were perfect and all was well, we thought.

My sister Hope and brother-in-law Ed picked us up and as we drove toward their home in the hills above Edwards, the blue sky was fading to a silvery blue streaked with red as brilliant as the mountains. That evening Ed cooked a delicious seafood pasta and our vacation was off to a fine start.

But the next morning as we headed to Leadville and a bike ride on a trail called the Mineral Belt, I noticed a missed a call from a Miami number. The voice mail told the story. An American Airlines employee informed me that my wallet had been found and was in Miami. I hadn’t even missed it, but I rummaged around in my handbag and sure enough, there was no wallet. Before my panic had a chance to escalate, the cell phone rang.

It was Daynelis Sanchez, another American Airlines employee. When I explained I wasn’t in Miami, she arranged to send the wallet via FedEx to my sister’s home in Edwards. She said, “Your credit cards are here and so is your driver’s license. There’s also $88.77 in cash. We can’t send that Fed Ex. Is it okay if we put it an American Airlines account and send you a check?” “Of course,” I said gratefully.  “I can’t thank you enough.”

But when I hung up, it all seemed too good to be true. And I warn people regularly about scams and things that seem too nice. So I called the number that was in my cell phone and got another woman. “Who is this?” I asked. “This is Sheyla Ubrina, I’m an American Airlines employee and I called you earlier.” It turns out my wallet was probably left on the plane in Dallas. After it returned to New York, it was flown to Miami and a crew member found it. That crew member brought it to Sheyla Urbina who reached out to me and then made sure that the lost-and-found team followed up.

Three American Airlines employees went out of their way to help and make sure that a customer received a lost wallet, credit cards and money. This says a lot to me about people who believe in their company and take pride in their jobs and their commitment to customers. Thank you.

There’s one more thing. The day the wallet was set to arrive, my husband, sister and brother-in-law were biking to Aspen. I was going to drive to meet them. But I didn’t have my driver’s license. I arranged online to pick up the package in Eagle and I worried that I wouldn’t get the license in time for the drive to Aspen. But that morning, the phone rang.

“Barbara? This is Tina from FedEx.” I was so surprised. “You have my wallet!” I shouted into the phone. “Can I come get it now?”“Oh. It’s your wallet. Oh my goodness,” she said. “It’s on the truck. I’ll get on the truck and look for it. Do you know how to get here?”

 Tina gave me detailed directions and told me to take my time. I gassed up and diddled around.  And a half an hour later, the phone rang again. “Hi. It’s Tina. Did you get lost?” she asked.  I was right outside.

Here again was another employee of a big company who restored my faith in the American worker’s ethic for honesty and great service and on this Labor Day weekend, we celebrate them.