On A Personal Note – Best Friends Forever!

As you may remember, last month I told you about my recent trip to Florida Disney Resorts with my sons, Mohan, Elliott and Joseph. My daughter, Hanayo, had to stay behind to run her Cupcake store but that didn’t stop her from taking off a day for fun with her Best Friends Forever. I always wondered what the abbreviation BFF meant as […]

Medicare Mistakes…Part 2

Back in April, I introduced two Medicare mistakes that you should be sure to avoid. As I explained, there are some pitfalls and traps that can cost plenty. Below are mistakes 3 and 4. 3. Failing to enroll in Part B when you should: Signing up at the time that’s right for you is critical. […]

Medigap Premiums Vary Widely

Costs for Medicare Supplement insurance, also called “Medigap”, vary significantly for men and women, says Jesse Slome, director of the American Association for Medicare Supplement Insurance (AAMSI), which released the first phase of the study. A 65-year old male purchasing Medicare Supplement insurance will pay anywhere from a low of $126 per-month to $444 per-month, […]

On A Personal Note – Our Business is a Family Affair!

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, […]

Two Common Medicare Mistakes To Avoid

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 […]

Is Kindness and Compassion Too Expensive?

(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 […]

2016 Changes To Social Security and Medicare

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 […]

‘SINGLE-PAYER’ – What Does That mean?

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 […]

Part D Prescriptions Not Covered

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 […]