Henry Kress and I have been friends for 29 years. We first met in 1986 when my wife Nobuko and I first arrived in Irvine from New York. This was before any of our kids were born. You might think there is nothing special about my friend so far, just a nice friendship between a […]
As you may know, Martin and Associates Insurance has been a family run business for 27 years. My wife Nobuko and I had always hoped our sons would decide to join Dad to make the business even better and to serve our clients for future generations. I’m proud to announce that our two oldest sons, […]
Medicare is uncharted territory for most of the 10,000 people who become eligible for the program each day. There are some pitfalls lurking in the undergrowth and traps that can cost plenty unless people take care to avoid them.. Mistake #1: Believing you don’t need Medicare Part B if you have retiree or COBRA health […]
(This article first appeared in the March 2002 issue of California Broker Magazine as an open letter to fellow health insurance professionals. Reprinted with permission from Dave Leveque.) I am mourning the loss of my mother to pancreatic cancer. She was diagnosed on October 30, 2001 and died three months later. You are probably wondering […]
President Obama signed into law a bipartisan budget bill in October that, among other things, changes – for better and worse – Social Security and Medicare laws. Here’s a wrap-up. File and Suspend: Currently, a married person, typically the higher wage earner in a couple who’s at least full retirement age could file for his […]
Health care has emerged as one of the flash points in the Democratic presidential race. Sen. Bernie Sanders calls for “Medicare for All,” a health system that falls under the heading of ‘Single-payer”. Just to be clear, a Single-payer system is not the same thing as socialized medicine. In truly socialized medicine system, the government […]
There has been a recurring problem that many Medicare beneficiaries discover in January of each year. Most people assume that if their Part D plan covered their medications in 2015 that it will cover the same way in 2016. Wrong! You may remember what they say about assuming? In the fall of each year, the […]