Everyone is becoming aware of identity theft as a recurring crime that is affecting a large portion of our population. Seniors are particularly sensitive to this new criminal activity and are trying to do everything they can to protect their information. They have discovered a weakness in our system and have been requesting assistance from the government in remedying the situation.

Apparently, all Medicare Cards display the social security number of the recipient. To make matters worse, every person with Medicare coverage has been requested to carry this card on their person. This is leaving seniors vulnerable to minor thefts in which their personal information will be readily available to every petty crook. Instead of having an account number specifically assigned to Medicare, they are being required to expose their social security number to numerous people who could easily copy it. Seniors are feeling very uncomfortable with this situation and have requested that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services fix this system. The Centers have taken the position that there is no problem as they have not been advised of one case of identity theft that could be traced back to a Medicare card. They say costs of changing the system would run about $500 million dollars and it would take five years to implement.

The Senate Finance Committee is supporting a revamp of the current system to eliminate this problem. It is near impossible to believe that, while we are all purchasing shredders and carefully watching over all forms of our identity, our seniors are being forced to carry their social security numbers on their person and required to present it to numerous employees so that they can obtain the benefits they so desperately need.

All health insurance policies are very expensive. How much you can afford often defines the type of policy you will apply for to cover your family’s health insurance needs. Budgets always must be a consideration. We would all like to have health insurance policies that cover every possible contingency but it is highly unlikely that most of us can afford this type of policy. Therefore, we must make choices weighing both our needs and our finances.

The first thing that needs to be done is a complete comparison of health insurance policies you can afford and the coverage they will provide. It is difficult to analyze medical policies as they tend to use medical terminology with which we are not familiar. If you have someone who can assist with this, it would be a good idea to call on them. If not, you will have to buckle down and try your best. You also have the option of contacting an insurance broker who will help you find the right policy for you and your family and who will be able to weigh the differences between policies in language you can understand. This broker will be happy to make recommendations regarding family health insurance and can be a very good source of knowledge for you.

When trying to contain costs, the two types of policies to be considered are the limited benefit policies and the high deductible policies. A comparison of these two can be done by your broker who will provide you with an analysis and a recommendation. He is an experienced insurance broker who will probably be able to suggest what will be best for you and your family. The final decision, however, is yours.

Limited-benefit policies are exactly what the name suggests. Each area of the policy has specific limitations and, if your needs exceed these, you will be responsible to pay the difference. This can be extremely expensive in the event of serious illness. It is very possible that you will not have the funds necessary to support the cost of this illness.

High deductible policies, however, operate almost in reverse of limited-benefit policies. With a high deductible policy, none of your day to day miscellaneous expenses are covered. You pay all of these out of pocket, although your policy may arrange for discounts on the charges. Only when you reach your out-of-pocket yearly deductible, sometimes as high as $6,000 or more, do you become eligible for full coverage. The advantage to this type of policy is that your exposure is limited to your deductible. With the limited-benefit policy, it pays many minor expenses but often deserts you when the large bills arrive.

The best way to describe the difference between these two policies is to state that the limited-benefit policy is probably more beneficial for ordinary medical expenses if you do not have a serious illness. The high deductible policy can cost you right up to the deductible amount, but after that your expenses will generally be covered in full.

Only you can decide which type of policy is best for you and your family. Accept professional guidance and choose what is best for you, but remember that you have to live with your decision.