Appen Media Group
October Special Section
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2 | October 2023 | AppenMedia.com
Your Local Broker for Medicare Insurance Needs
Specializing in Medicare Advantage & Medicare Supplement Plans Serving North Atlanta Seniors for More Than 10 Years Representing Most Medicare Insurance Companies • Experienced Medicare Insurance Broker • Provides Personalized Plan Analysis Jay Looft Owner/Agent
• Annual Plan Updates, Including Upcoming Trends • No Cost to Use Our Services
770.913.6464
www.SeniorSourceMedicare.com We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.
PROVIDED
Are there any changes to my Medicare Plan? Brought to you by - Jay Looft, Senior Source Medicare The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period is here! Almost two weeks into the Medicare AEP, the most common question we seem to get is “Are there any changes to my plan?” It is important to remember that from year to year, your plan will almost always change in some way. For instance, your insurance carrier could lower or raise a hospital copay, make changes to the prescription formulary, or offer new plan options all together. Every insurance carrier must physically mail you the changes for the upcoming year in a booklet called the Annual Notice of Change, or ANOC for short. If you have not received your ANOC, contact your insurance carrier to request one or contact us through our website at www.SeniorSourceMedicare. com/contact-seniorsource/ and we would be happy to provide you with a booklet with your specific plan changes. If you have a Medicare Advantage
Plan (also referred to as a Medicare Plan) or a Stand-Alone Prescription Drug Plan (PDP), you should review the changes annually. You’ll usually hear from your Medicare Insurance Agent about major changes in the plans; but for more specific changes, like changes to the prescription drug formulary, the insurance carrier would only notify the member and not the agent. Just remember to check your doctors, check your prescription drugs, and review your ANOC. By reviewing these three items, you’ll know whether you should allow your current plan to automatically renew or if it might be a good idea to look at changing to a new plan. You don’t have to go it alone! Analyzing Medicare Plans and recognizing all the extra perks that go with them, can be overwhelming. We are Medicare insurance brokers that do all this for you, while keeping your specific needs in mind. Give us a call today at (770) 913-6464 or check us out online at www.SeniorSourceMedicare.com.
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AppenMedia.com | October 2023 | 3
Fraxel & the magic of Microtreatment Brought to You by - Brent Taylor, MD, Premiere Dermatology and Mohs Surgery of Atlanta Imagine that you are ten years old, returning from recess and running up the stairs with a sharp stick you found on the playground. Your best friend Susie-Lou distracts you. You trip, and the stick pierces your arm. You are upset, but Susie shares her bubble gum, and the school nurse cleans and dresses the injury and makes you feel better. In the months that follow, you develop a scar at the site of the injury. Next, imagine you’re at the pediatrician, and you receive a shot. The same basic circumstance happened. A sharp object pierced your skin. However, in the months that follow, no scar develops where you had the shot. The tiny needle leaves no mark. Why is that? A large injury in normal skin heals with a scar. A tiny injury in normal skin heals with no scar. But now for the twist: What do you imagine will happen if you make a tiny injury in scarred skin? Will it heal back into the same scar that it was before? Will the scar get worse? Or will magic happen? Amazingly, if you pierce a scar with a small enough injury, your body will actually replace some of the damaged scar with normal skin. All this assumes proper sterility and technique, but you read that correctly…. Poke normal skin with a large sharp object and you get a scar. Poke a scar with a small enough sharp object, and you get normal skin. If you just poke a scar with a single small needle, the improvement in the scar will be too small to notice. But what if you could introduce microinjuries on a larger scale? A hundred vaccine needles entering a scar? Well, if you pack those small injuries too closely together, then your body perceives the small injuries as one big injury, and you still get a scar. But if you separate the needle injuries enough in a sterile manner with no complications, then the body will perceive the injuries as separate and distinct and heal in such a way that scar gets replaced with normal skin. This discovery underlies multiple amazing treatments in dermatology. When I was in San Diego at my fellowship at Scripps Clinic, we participated in a collaboration with the naval hospital to treat veterans with burns. Scripps owns a very powerful laser that can cause microscopic burns to be introduced into the skin of patients with very thick burn injuries. The laser beams were “fractionated” – separated into individual beams so that the body perceives them as individual injuries instead of one large injury. Similar to
hundreds of small needles in our thought experiment, these microscopic laser beams enter the skin, create microinjury zones, and replace scars with normal skin. My mentor shared with me that beams must be separate enough that the most scarred tissue that you can hope to replace in any one session is about 5%. More aggressive treatment could actually be counterproductive because some of the beams of light would be too close together and be perceived as one large beam and worsen a scar. But 5% turns out to be enough. Veterans with burns underwent one treatment per month for ten to twenty months. I witnessed patients whose scars tethered their heads to their shoulder gradually gain mobility in their necks as the skin became soft and pliable instead of hard, rope-like and restrictive. These treatments restored not only a more normal appearance but also range of motion and function. Fractionated lasers repair damaged/ wounded skin. Wounded skin can take on many forms such as burns and thick scars from injury but also common damage from a lived life: aesthetic attributes such as discoloration, acne scars, wrinkles, and laxity. All of these are merely visible damaged skin. Fraxel® is a brand of fractionated laser that is an effective solution for many aesthetic concerns. Fraxel® uses small laser beam injuries to replace damaged or aged skin with skin that is healed and improved. Collagen formation, skin tightening, and blemish elimination occurs during wound healing after fractionated laser treatment. The Fraxel® DUAL in our office utilizes a shallow wavelength of light to address superficial cosmetic concerns such as freckles and brown spots while simultaneously using a second wavelength to treat more deeply, reduce wrinkles and assist with skin tightening. For most cosmetic applications, one to three treatments can produce very satisfying aesthetic results. Fractionated laser treatments really are magical. I still marvel at the fact that large injuries scar, but small enough injuries heal. Is Fraxel® right for you? In our practice, Kathryn Filipek, PA-C performs cosmetic treatments including Fraxel®, microneedling, Excel V laser treatments, filler, Botox®, sclerotherapy and more. If you are interested in learning more about these and other exciting treatment options, please call Premier Dermatology and Mohs Surgery of Atlanta. We are a full-service dermatology practice with true expertise in Mohs surgery, general dermatology including skin exams and aesthetic treatments. We hope that you enjoyed this peek into laser technology and fractionation. It is our privilege to take care of you.
Skin Cancer & Mohs Surgery • Medical Dermatology Vein Care • Cosmetic Services
Honored to be Voted: Best Dermatologist and Best Vein Specialist
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 18 years experience as a Dermatology PA. We are excited to welcome her, as she brings with her experience in general dermatology 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. WINNER
WINNER
WINNER
WINNER
Dr. Brent Taylor
Kathryn Filipek, PA-C
WINNER
WINNER
WINNER
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2021
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2023
Presented By
Presented By
Presented By
Presented By
Presented By
Presented By
Presented By
Best Of Best Of Best Of Best Of Best Of Best Of Best Of North North North North North North North Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta
Accepting new patients. We accept Medicare. Schedule your appointment with Premier Dermatology today. 3180 North Point Parkway, Suite 420 • Alpharetta, GA 30005 PremierDermatologyAtlanta.com • 678-345-1899
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4 | October 2023 | AppenMedia.com
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FREE Upcoming Webinars: Protect your family today!
How parents can answer their children about planning Brought to you by - Michelle Wilson, Attorney, Wilson Legal
Be sure to check out our webinars. Registration links at Wilson-legal.com/events 11/10/23 Friday • 1pm
PEXELS
Attorney Michelle Wilson
Estate Planning Basics
12/8/23, Friday • 1-2pm Probate Basics
407 East Maple St., #105 • Cumming, GA 30040 • (770) 205-7861
This is the time of year when we are getting together with family. I’m often asked by adult children, “How do I start a WILSON conversation with my mom or dad about their estate plan – their will or where things are?” Parents often comment that children are just “trying to put me in a home” when children ask about financial or legal paperwork. Parents, this article is for how you can respond to your kids during this holiday season. Here are some ideas on how parents can start the conversation with their kids: (1) “Let’s spend a few minutes today talking about where our legal documents are and how you can access
them.” (2) “What worries or concerns do you have about steps to take in a financial or medical emergency?” (3) “I’m not sure that I have everything I need for financial and medical decisions made while I’m living or after I pass. Are there attorneys you’ve run into who you would recommend reviewing my documents?” (4) “I do not feel comfortable giving you (adult child) all the information about my situation just yet. I’d like to talk to an attorney first. Let’s talk more about this at Christmas when we’re together. I do want you to be able to help me when I need help and I’d like to think about how that would work in reality and then discuss the plan with you.” We’re happy to help and we respect a parent’s wish for privacy. That means we send adult children out of the room if a parent wants to speak with us privately. Being prepared begins with the first step. Please let us know if we can help.
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AppenMedia.com | October 2023 | 5
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When in Rome...not necessarily Brought to you by Geerdes & Associates Did you know that the Roman Emperor Augustus set up a trust all the way back in 63 B.C. to ensure his younger sons would be financially secure GEERDES after his death? Or that Thomas Jefferson also established a trust to protect his property from his bankrupt son-in-law? Although trusts may seem like a relatively new vehicle of protection, it’s had a long history of being used by figures of authority. Today, you don’t have to be an emperor, president, or celebrity to protect your assets. Plenty of people are seeing the merits of having a trust, particularly to shield their estate from the probate court and the IRS. So, let’s look at how a trust works. During your lifetime, you may establish a revocable or irrevocable trust. (Or both!) The trust should be tailored specifically to your financial and family situation. If you are married, you might have a marital trust; if you have disabled children, you might have a special needs trust. You might also have
an irrevocable trust like a charitable remainder trust that directs some of your money to a charity. Regardless of what you choose, things generally don’t change while you’re alive. After you fund the trust by transferring your accounts, insurances, and real estate into the trust - you can still use the assets (everything if it’s revocable; usually just the income if it’s irrevocable). You can occupy real estate owned by the trust. You have full control. After you pass, depending on your trust, the trust could reduce or eliminate the federal estate taxes levied at your death. Because your assets are all in the trust, your money and properties avoid the custody of the probate court, where anyone can attempt to claim part of your estate. Most importantly, because a trust outlines how everything should be distributed, you can be sure that all your beneficiaries will receive what you want them to. A trust has many benefits, and it can be flexibly modified to fit your specific needs. As always, we recommend that you find a local estate planning attorney to analyze your situation and advise you on what works best for you.
Protect Your Assets, Your Home, And Your Family In 3 Steps
Reserve Your Seat For A FREE Estate Planning Workshop • Does my Will protect my “stuff”? (It does not.) • Should I upgrade my Will to a Trust? • What do I need to know about Revocable Living Trusts? • How do Irrevocable Trusts work? Upcoming Workshops: Tues., Nov. 7th – 4pm Thurs., Nov. 9th – 11am Wed., Nov. 15th – 6pm
Tues., Nov. 21st – 4pm Thurs., Nov. 23rd – 11am Wed., Nov. 29th – 6pm
• Medicaid. What’s true and what’s not? • How do I protect my assets for my family and legacy? • How do I remain in control? • How do I avoid losing everything to nursing home costs? • How can my family avoid probate? Attend our FREE Educational Workshops. Reserve your Spot and Get a FREE Consultation for attending the Workshop (a $500 Value) CODE: herald2023
1100 Cambridge Square | Suite B | Alpharetta, GA 30009 | 770.209.2346 | esther@gklawgroup.com
6 | October 2023 | AppenMedia.com
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Are there any changes to my Medicare Plan? Brought to you by - Jay Looft, Senior Source Medicare The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period is here! Almost two weeks into the Medicare AEP, the most common question we seem to get is “Are there any changes to my plan?” It is important to remember that from year to year, your plan will almost always change in some way. For instance, your insurance carrier could lower or raise a hospital copay, make changes to the prescription formulary, or offer new plan options all together. Every insurance carrier must physically mail you the changes for the upcoming year in a booklet called the Annual Notice of Change, or ANOC for short. If you have not received your ANOC, contact your insurance carrier to request one or contact us through our website at www.SeniorSourceMedicare. com/contact-seniorsource/ and we would be happy to provide you with a booklet with your specific plan changes. If you have a Medicare Advantage
Plan (also referred to as a Medicare Plan) or a Stand-Alone Prescription Drug Plan (PDP), you should review the changes annually. You’ll usually hear from your Medicare Insurance Agent about major changes in the plans; but for more specific changes, like changes to the prescription drug formulary, the insurance carrier would only notify the member and not the agent. Just remember to check your doctors, check your prescription drugs, and review your ANOC. By reviewing these three items, you’ll know whether you should allow your current plan to automatically renew or if it might be a good idea to look at changing to a new plan. You don’t have to go it alone! Analyzing Medicare Plans and recognizing all the extra perks that go with them, can be overwhelming. We are Medicare insurance brokers that do all this for you, while keeping your specific needs in mind. Give us a call today at (770) 315-8145 or check us out online at www. SeniorSourceMedicare.com.
Your Local Broker for Medicare Insurance Needs
Specializing in Medicare Advantage & Medicare Supplement Plans Serving North Atlanta Seniors for More Than 10 Years Representing Most Medicare Insurance Companies • Experienced Medicare Insurance Broker • Provides Personalized Plan Analysis Paige Gorman Agent
• Annual Plan Updates, Including Upcoming Trends • No Cost to Use Our Services
770.315.8145
www.SeniorSourceMedicare.com We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.
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AppenMedia.com | October 2023 | 7
There’s a Podcast for Everyone!
In his long-awaited return to the airwaves, Caddy partners with his new co-host – and wife! - Donna, to bring his loyal listeners everything they’ve come to expect and love from Cadillac Jack.
Available for free wherever you listen to podcasts.
The Georgia Politics Podcast focuses on all things under the gold dome. Show host Preston Thompson covers the most noteworthy updates to the legislative session of Georgia’s House of Representatives and State Senate.
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8 | October 2023 | AppenMedia.com
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