Your Local Broker for Medicare Insurance Needs
Jay Looft Owner/Agent
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Medicare Advantage gets big boost!
Medicare Advantage plans help the Medicare beneficiary? I believe so.
Earlier this month, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that next year's payments to Medicare Advantage plans will not increase to the expected 2%, but rather will increase 5.1 percent.
This unexpected increase equates to an estimated 25 billion dollars in additional payments!
One reason for this increase, sources say, is because of new data showing medical cost being higher than first reported.
As this announcement was celebrated amongst the Medicare Advantage insurance community, they are still adjusting to a continued 3-year roll out of the new CMS reform policy. CMS is continuing its new standards placed on the Medicare Advantage plans that aims to stop insurance companies from “gaming” the system with a process referred to as upcoding.
These new standards will provide more accurate payments to insurance companies. The funding increase will help ease the insurance companies into these new policy standards.
Will the funding increase to
It’s too early to tell how this influx of additional funding will play out in the Medicare Advantage Plan designs for plan year 2026, but now that this is public knowledge, the MA companies will be under a microscope for next year’s plans.
What should you look out for if you are already on a Medicare Advantage plan or looking to make a change to Medicare Advantage?
In the fall of this year (October 15th-December 7th), next year’s plans will be released. Look for a possibility of these benefits getting stronger: Dental, Vision, lower medical copays, and increases in Over-The-Counter Program benefits.
Another prediction is that we might see Medicare Advantage insurance companies create a plan design not yet seen in Georgia. It’s too early to say, but if you are interested in knowing more about Medicare Advantage plans, or need help with your Medicare Supplement plan, contact me at SeniorSourceMedicare. com/contact-seniorsource or call (770) 913-6464.
Source: HealthCareDive.com
Brought to you by – SeniorSource Medicare Solutions
Is Lidocaine a secret weapon against cancer?
We always worry about the negative side-effects that a medicine might have. At the end of a pharmaceutical company’s commercials, an auctioneer very quickly states the twenty terrible things that might happen if you take the advertised medicine. Side effects range from your ear falling off when you sneeze to the belief that you are Elvis. Side-effects make almost any medicine sound scary. But occasionally, a positive side effect emerges. Sometimes, we discover something wonderful about a medicine that is wholly unexpected.
Examples of positive side-effects are not hard to find. The medicine finasteride was first being used to help decrease the size of the prostate in men who were having difficulty urinating. An unexpected positive side-effect was discovered when it was noticed that many of the men were regrowing their scalp hair. With finasteride, male pattern baldness was often partially reversed or stopped in its tracks.
One of the most recent medications discovered to have a possible positive side effect is lidocaine, which has been around since 1943. Lidocaine is an injectable anesthetic. We use lidocaine for skin biopsies, excisions, Mohs surgeries and countless other procedures every day in the dermatology office. Amazingly, lidocaine may be more than an anesthetic. It may also have anti-cancer effects.
A team of surgeons in India operating on breast cancer divided patients into two groups. One group had standard breast cancer surgery. The other group received a lidocaine injection around the tumor 7-10 minutes prior to surgery. During the 5 years after surgery, the group that received the lidocaine injection had an 8.5% rate of the cancer recurring (popping up again) at a distant site versus an 11.6% rate of distant recurrence in the surgeryonly (no lidocaine) group. The study has some limitations including not being a double-blind trial and being a single-
center study, but it is intriguing enough to warrant further investigation. The authors reported that injecting lidocaine around breast cancer before removing it increased survival in their study.
What made the surgeons perform this study in the first place? Why lidocaine? Over the last few years, researchers have discovered that electrical gradients maintained across the membranes of cancer cells are important to their ability to metastasize or spread. Our cells have pumps in them called “ion channels.” They allow certain ions to pass across the cell membrane. The resulting ion concentration gradient creates an electrical charge across a cell. This gradient affects the way other proteins in the cell function. Importantly, some of the proteins affected by the charge across a cell membrane are important for healthy cells’ growth and development as well as for cancers’ ability to grow and spread.
Lidocaine works by blocking sodium channels in cell membranes. Disrupting the electric charge across a cancer cell membrane was suspected to have the potential to weaken the cancer itself. Preclinical studies supported this hypothesis, and the breast cancer surgeons took the next step of performing a trial with breast cancer patients and peritumoral lidocaine injections.
I don’t know if breast cancer surgeons in the United States consider these results valid, are awaiting confirmatory studies or are already injecting lidocaine. However, in dermatology, these results are exciting because, for now, we do not need to change anything that we are already doing. Every day that I perform Mohs surgery, we inject the area around a tumor with lidocaine prior to surgically removing the cancer. If lidocaine is more than an anesthetic, then our patients are likely already benefiting from any anti-cancer properties that lidocaine has.
Mohs surgery is the gold standard for treating most skin cancers and has a cure rate that is usually at or above 99%. Perhaps lidocaine is one of the secrets to this success.
Insist on the BEST
Dr. Brent Taylor is a Board-Certified Dermatologist, a Fellowship-Trained Mohs Surgeon, and is certified by the Board of Venous and Lymphatic Medicine in the field of Vein Care.
He is an expert in skin cancer and melanoma treatment, endovenous laser ablation, minimally invasive vein procedures and cosmetics procedures such as Botox and injectables.
Kathryn is a certified physician assistant with over 22 years experience as a Dermatology PA and cosmetic dermatology.
Her specialties include general dermatology such as acne, eczema, rashes, hair loss, full body skin exams, abnormal growths etc. Kathryn also specializes in cosmetic dermatology including lasers, injectables, micro-needling, PRP, facial peels, sclerotherapy for spider veins and at home skin care.
Kathryn Filipek, PA-C
Brought to you by – Dr. Brent Taylor, Premier Dermatology and Mohs Surgery of Atlanta
Medicare Advantage gets big boost!
Earlier this month, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that next year's payments to Medicare Advantage plans will not increase to the expected 2%, but rather will increase 5.1 percent.
This unexpected increase equates to an estimated 25 billion dollars in additional payments!
One reason for this increase, sources say, is because of new data showing medical cost being higher than first reported.
As this announcement was celebrated amongst the Medicare Advantage insurance community, they are still adjusting to a continued 3-year roll out of the new CMS reform policy. CMS is continuing its new standards placed on the Medicare Advantage plans that aims to stop insurance companies from “gaming” the system with a process referred to as upcoding.
These new standards will provide more accurate payments to insurance companies. The funding increase will help ease the insurance companies into these new policy standards.
Will the funding increase to Medicare Advantage plans help the Medicare beneficiary? I believe so.
It’s too early to tell how this influx of additional funding will play out in the Medicare Advantage Plan designs for plan year 2026, but now that this is public knowledge, the MA companies will be under a microscope for next year’s plans.
What should you look out for if you are already on a Medicare Advantage plan or looking to make a change to Medicare Advantage?
In the fall of this year (October 15th-December 7th), next year’s plans will be released. Look for a possibility of these benefits getting stronger: Dental, Vision, lower medical copays, and increases in Over-The-Counter Program benefits.
Another prediction is that we might see Medicare Advantage insurance companies create a plan design not yet seen in Georgia. It’s too early to say, but if you are interested in knowing more about Medicare Advantage plans, or need help with your Medicare Supplement plan, contact me at SeniorSourceMedicare.com/contactseniorsource or call (770) 315-8145.
Source: HealthCareDive.com
Importance of skin checks for mature skin
Brought
to you by
- Dr. Kehinde Olumesi of Epiphany Dermatology - Brookhaven
As skin matures, it undergoes various changes that necessitate regular skin checks to ensure overall skin health. Differentiating between age spots, healthy moles and potential skin cancers is crucial. Age spots, often appearing as flat, brown, or black spots on sun-exposed areas, are generally harmless but can be mistaken for more serious conditions. Early detection of skin cancer, including melanoma, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, significantly increases the chances of successful treatment. Therefore, routine skin examinations are essential for mature skin to maintain health and catch any issues early.
Addressing skin conditions and rejuvenation procedures
Dermatologists can assist with a variety of skin conditions and rejuvenation procedures for mature skin. Common issues such as dryness, age-related pigmentation and conditions like rosacea, psoriasis and eczema, which can persist or develop with age, are also addressed with specialized care plans.
In addition to treating conditions,
dermatologists offer rejuvenating procedures to enhance the appearance and health of mature skin. Treatments such as chemical peels, laser rejuvenation and injectable treatments like BOTOX®
Cosmetic and dermal fillers can reduce the appearance of wrinkles, improve skin texture and promote collagen production. These procedures not only rejuvenate the skin but also boost confidence and overall
well-being. Establishing a relationship with a dermatologist ensures that your skin receives comprehensive care tailored to its evolving needs, promoting long-term skin health and vitality.
