Life After 50 Expo

Pasta meals in a flash!

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Pasta meals are pretty easy to cook. The pasta itself just needs to be placed in boiling water and can be cooked in 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the type of pasta of course. And while the pasta is boiling you can already prepare your desired sauce, whether it may be tomato based, pesto or cream based, you can be finished in now time. You can have a pasta meal in a flash, provided you know what you’re doing.

To those experienced in the kitchen, this kind of meal is easy to make. But to the novices might still find pasta a little daunting or troublesome. One thing that you should watch out when cooking pasta is the noodles. You need to test every now and then to see if the noodles are done. The pasta cooks pretty quickly and leaving it too long can result to soggy noodles.

Avoid placing the pasta when the water is not yet boiling. This will help prevent the pasta from becoming all mushy, soft and sticky. Also, keep the water at a boil at all times. You can help make the pasta firmer if you add salt into the boiling water. Note that you should not cover the pot when you already placed the pasta. When the pasta is done, take it off the boiling water. The pasta will continue to cook if you leave it there. With that, one half of your pasta meal is done. The other half would be the sauce.

The good thing about pasta is having several choices for sauces. Actually, at some point you will be stumped on what kind of sauce to make due to the varieties. If you’re a pasta person then having a couple of sauces stored in your refrigerator would be the best ways to go. If you have pesto, you can use that to sauce your pasta. Add additional garlic, some mushrooms or even Italian sausages and topped with cheese and you can have a good meal.

Bottled or canned sun-dried tomatoes can go well with pasta. I always try to have some sun-dried tomatoes ready since you can just pour it over your pasta and voila! A tomato based pasta without the traditional tomato sauce and pastes. Top with grated cheese and partnered with bread and you can have a fulfilling meal in no time.

If you want a cream-based sauce, just prepare some sliced olives, cream, oregano and grated cheese. Mix the cream, olives and oregano together with your pasta and finish off with grated cheese on top. A simple cream-based pasta but can be quite joyous to the palette.

Olive oil is also a staple sauce for pasta and can be quite easy to use as well. You can mix olive oil with canned seafood or slices of meat or sausages to create a sauce for your pasta. You can add basil for flavor and don’t forget the grated cheese. If you want to experiment, try adding spicy flavored meat or canned seafood. Spicy pasta may not be for everyone but still a good dish in my account.

A pasta meal in a flash is really just that. In a span of 15 to 20 minutes you would have already prepared a good, hearty meal of pasta in either tomato, cream or olive-based sauce. It is a quick meal that I personally won’t get tired of.

Dear Marci,

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Dear Tanya,

Medicare supplement insurance policies, often called Medigaps, are health insurance policies that offer standardized benefits to work with Original Medicare (not with Medicare Advantage). If you have a Medigap, it pays part or all of certain cost-sharing gaps that remain after Original Medicare pays first. Medigaps help cover outstanding deductibles, coinsurance charges, and copayments, to varying degrees. Some Medigaps also cover health care costs that Medicare does not cover at all.

Beneficiaries who enroll in certain Medigaps and see providers who accept assignment (accept Medicare’s approved amount as full payment for items and services) can eliminate most of the out-of-pocket costs for covered services. Remember, Medigaps only work with Original Medicare. People who have Medicare Advantage Plans cannot buy Medigaps.

Depending on where you live, you have up to 10 different Medigap policies to choose from: A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N (policies in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Minnesota have different names). Each policy offers a different set of standardized benefits that ranges from basic to more comprehensive. Standardization means that policies with the same letter name offer the same benefits. However, premiums can vary from company to company.

Some costs are covered by all Medigaps. These include:

  • Part A hospital coinsurance: The daily coinsurance change for days 61 through 90 you spend as a hospital inpatient during each benefit period. All Medigap policies also cover the full cost of 365 additional inpatient hospital days during your lifetime.
  • The Part B coinsurance: All Medigaps cover at least some part of the 20% coinsurance for Medicare-covered outpatient medical services and items, like x-rays, durable medical equipment, and doctors’ visits.
  • The first three pints of blood, if you are hospitalized and the hospital needs blood for a medical procedure or blood transfusion.
  • Part A hospice care coinsurance or copay: All Medigaps cover the full cost of hospice coinsurance charges and copays for hospice-related drugs and respite care, as long as the Medigap was purchased on or after June 1, 2020.

Some Medigaps cover all or part of the following costs:

  • Part A skilled nursing facility (SNF) coinsurance: Some Medigaps pay for your SNF coinsurance for all of your covered days in a benefit period.
  • Part A deductible: Some Medigaps pay for your Part A inpatient hospital deductible, which is the amount you owe out of pocket at the beginning of a benefit period.
  • Part B deductible: The Part B deductible is the amount you owe out of pocket before Part B begins to cover the cost of your outpatient care.
  • Part B excess charges: Excess charges may only be charged by non-participating providers. These providers can charge up to 15% more than the Medicare-approved cost for services. If you have a Medigap that covers excess charges, your Medigap will reimburse you if you see a non-participating provider who bills for excess charges.
  • Foreign travel: With very few exceptions, Medicare does not cover services you receive in a foreign country, but some Medigaps cover emergency health care when you are abroad. These Medigaps cover 80% of the cost of emergency health care abroad during the first two months of your trip, up to a lifetime limit of $50,000, after you meet a deductible.

Click here for a table that compares the different costs that Medigaps supplement

-Marci

Dear Marci,

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Dear Marci,

I applied for the Medicare Savings Program and just received a letter stating that I am eligible for the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) level of the Medicare Savings Program. What benefits and protections are included with QMB?

-Jonah (Tampa, FL)

Dear Jonah,

Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) is one of three main Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs).The MSPs help pay your Medicare costs if you have limited income and savings. If you qualify for QMB, it will pay your Medicare Part A and B premiums and cost-sharing. Cost-sharing can include deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments. Federal law prohibits Medicare providers from billing people enrolled in the QMB program for any Medicare cost-sharing. This means that if you have QMB, Medicare providers should not bill you for any Medicare-covered services you receive.

More specifically, if you have QMB and are enrolled in Original Medicare, you should not be billed when receiving a Medicare-covered service from either:

  • A participating provider: A provider who accepts Medicare and always takes assignment. Taking assignment means that the provider accepts Medicare’s approved amount for health care services as full payment.
  • A non-participating provider: A provider who accepts Medicare but has not agreed to take assignment in all cases.

If you have QMB and are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage Plan, you should not be billed when receiving a plan-covered service from:

  • In-network providers, as long as you meet your plan’s coverage rules, such as getting prior authorization to see certain specialists

To protect yourself from improper billing, be aware that:

  • Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage providers who do not accept Medicaid must still comply with improper billing protections and cannot bill you
  • You keep your improper billing protections even when receiving care from Medicare providers in other states (Note: you can be billed if you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage Plan and see an out-of-network provider, or if you have Original Medicare and see an opt-out provider)
  • You cannot choose to waive these protections and pay Medicare cost-sharing, and a provider cannot ask you to do this

Note: Some states may impose Medicaid copays for certain Medicare-covered services. Medicare and Medicaid should pay the majority of the cost, leaving you a nominal copay. Contact your local Medicaid office to learn more about Medicaid copays in your state.
 
Remember that if you have QMB, the Medicare providers you see must accept Medicare payment and any QMB payment as the full payment for any Medicare-covered services you received. Providers who violate improper billing protections may be subject to penalties. If you are having issues with a provider who continually attempts to bill you, or if you have unpaid cost-sharing bills that have been sent to collection agencies, call 1-800-MEDICARE or contact your Medicare Advantage Plan.

Marci

Dear Marci,

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Dear Marci,

I was at a health fair recently where someone told me that I might qualify for a Medicare Savings Program to help me save on Medicare costs. What is the Medicare Savings Program?

-Vernon (Bend, OR)

Dear Vernon,

Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs) are state programs that assist you with paying your Medicare costs. These costs include premiums, deductibles, coinsurance charges, and copayments for Part A and Part B. there are three main programs, each with different benefits and eligibility requirements*:Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB): Pays for Medicare Parts A and B premiums. If you have QMB, typically you should not be billed for Medicare-covered services when seeing Medicare providers or providers in your Medicare Advantage Plan’s network.Specified Low-income Medicare Beneficiary (SLMB): Pays for Medicare Part B premium.Qualifying Individual (QI) Program: Pays for Medicare Part B premium.If you enroll in an MSP, you will automatically get Extra Help, the federal program that helps pay your Medicare prescription drug (Part D) plan costs.

To qualify for an MSP, you must have Medicare Part A and meet income and asset guidelines(note that these guidelines vary by state, and some states do not count assets when determining MSP eligibility). If you do not have Part A but meet QMB eligibility guidelines, your state may have a process to allow you to enroll in Part A and QMB. Many states allow this throughout the year, but others limit when you can enroll in Part A.

States use different rules to count your income and assets to determine if you are eligible for an MSP. Examples of income include wages and Social Security benefits you receive. Examples of assets include checking accounts and stocks. Certain income and assets may not count when determining you MSP eligibility. And some states do not have an asset limit.
If your income and assets seem to be above the MSP guidelines, you should still apply if you need the help.

*Qualified Disabled Working Individual (QDWI) is the fourth MSP and pays for the Medicare Part A premium. To be eligible for QDWI, you must:Be under age 65Be working but continue to have a disabling impairmentHave limited income and assetsAnd, not already by eligible for Medicaid.To learn if you qualify for an MSP, contact your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). A SHIP counselor can help you find out if your income and assets are under your state’s limits for an MSP. The names of these programs may vary by state, and MSPs are not available in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. To contact your SHIP, call 877-839-2675 or visit www.shiptacenter.org.

-Marci