Chapter Five: Prescription for Your Health Care Future: What You Need for a Healthy, Worry-Free Future

By E. Lisa Wendt mediarelations@lifesecureltc.com 

http://www.yourlifesecure.com/ 

An apple a day is a great idea, but eventually, we won’t be able to keep the doctor away. It is a fact of life that as we age, even if we are healthy, to stay healthy we may need preventive medicine like high blood-pressure pills or screening tests such as mammograms. And as we continue to get older, we may need a hospital, nursing home or extra care so we can stay in our own homes. While most of us are aware of the need to plan for our financial futures, it is a good bet that many of us have not even thought about our future health care needs. Planning for health care is especially important for women because women live longer than men and spend twice as many years with some kind of disability. To help you plan for your health care future, this chapter first outlines the Medicare programs (Parts A through D) that are currently available for older women. It also provides a brief description of Medicaid, the government health care program for those with low or no income or assets. It then describes Medigap and long-term care, two additional kinds of insurance that you may want to purchase for yourself. Remember, an apple a day may keep the doctor away for a while, but planning for your health care future today will help to ensure that you can enjoy being an older woman, worry-free, tomorrow.