By Ben Zdencanovic, University of California, Los Angeles

The Medicaid system has emerged as an early target of the Trump administration’s campaign to slash federal spending. A joint federal and state program, Medicaid provides health insurance coverage for more than 72 million people, including low-income Americans and their children and people with disabilities. It also helps foot the bill for long-term care for older people.

In late February 2025, House Republicans advanced a budget proposal that would potentially cut US$880 billion from Medicaid over 10 years. President Donald Trump has backed that House budget despite repeatedly vowing on the campaign trail and during his team’s transition that Medicaid cuts were off the table.

Medicaid covers one-fifth of all Americans at an annual cost that coincidentally also totals about $880 billion, $600 billion of which is funded by the federal government. Economists and public health experts have argued that big Medicaid cuts would lead to fewer Americans getting the health care they need and further strain the low-income families’ finances.

As a historian of social policy, I recently led a team that produced the first comprehensive historical overview of Medi-Cal, California’s statewide Medicaid system. Like the broader Medicaid program, Medi-Cal emerged as a compromise after Democrats failed to achieve their goal of establishing universal health care in the 1930s and 1940s.

Instead, the United States developed its current fragmented health care system, with employer-provided health insurance covering most working-age adults, Medicare covering older Americans, and Medicaid as a safety net for at least some of those left out.

Health care reformers vs. the AMA

Medicaid’s history officially began in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the system into law, along with Medicare. But the seeds for this program were planted in the 1930s and 1940s. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration was implementing its New Deal agenda in the 1930s, many of his advisers hoped to include a national health insurance system as part of the planned Social Security program.

Those efforts failed after a heated debate. The 1935 Social Security Act created the old-age and unemployment insurance systems we have today, with no provisions for health care coverage.

Nevertheless, during and after World War II, liberals and labor unions backed a bill that would have added a health insurance program into Social Security.

Harry Truman assumed the presidency after Roosevelt’s death in 1945. He enthusiastically embraced that legislation, which evolved into the “Truman Plan.” The American Medical Association, a trade group representing most of the nation’s doctors, feared heightened regulation and government control over the medical profession. It lobbied against any form of public health insurance.

During the late 1940s, the AMA poured millions of dollars into a political advertising campaign to defeat Truman’s plan. Instead of mandatory government health insurance, the AMA supported voluntary, private health insurance plans. Private plans such as those offered by Kaiser Permanente had become increasingly popular in the 1940s in the absence of a universal system. Labor unions began to demand them in collective bargaining agreements.

The AMA insisted that these private, employer-provided plans were the “American way,” as opposed to the “compulsion” of a health insurance system operated by the federal government. They referred to universal health care as “socialized medicine” in widely distributed radio commercials and print ads.

In the anticommunist climate of the late 1940s, these tactics proved highly successful at eroding public support for government-provided health care. Efforts to create a system that would have provided everyone with health insurance were soundly defeated by 1950.

JFK and LBJ

Private health insurance plans grew more common throughout the 1950s.

Federal tax incentives, as well as a desire to maintain the loyalty of their professional and blue-collar workers alike, spurred companies and other employers to offer private health insurance as a standard benefit. Healthy, working-age, employed adults – most of whom were white men – increasingly gained private coverage. So did their families, in many cases.

Everyone else – people with low incomes, those who weren’t working and people over 65 – had few options for health care coverage. Then, as now, Americans without private health insurance tended to have more health problems than those who had it, meaning that they also needed more of the health care they struggled to afford.

But this also made them risky and unprofitable for private insurance companies, which typically charged them high premiums or more often declined to cover them at all.

Health care activists saw an opportunity. Veteran health care reformers such as Wilbur Cohen of the Social Security Administration, having lost the battle for universal coverage, envisioned a narrower program of government-funded health care for people over 65 and those with low incomes. Cohen and other reformers reasoned that if these populations could get coverage in a government-provided health insurance program, it might serve as a step toward an eventual universal health care system.

While President John F. Kennedy endorsed these plans, they would not be enacted until Johnson was sworn in following JFK’s assassination. In 1965, Johnson signed a landmark health care bill into law under the umbrella of his “Great Society” agenda, which also included antipoverty programs and civil rights legislation.

That law created Medicare and Medicaid.

From Reagan to Trump

As Medicaid enrollment grew throughout the 1970s and 1980s, conservatives increasingly conflated the program with the stigma of what they dismissed as unearned “welfare.” In the 1970s, California Gov. Ronald Reagan developed his national reputation as a leading figure in the conservative movement in part through his high-profile attempts to cut and privatize Medicaid services in his state.

Upon assuming the presidency in the early 1980s, Reagan slashed federal funding for Medicaid by 18%. The cuts resulted in some 600,000 people who depended on Medicaid suddenly losing their coverage, often with dire consequences.

Medicaid spending has since grown, but the program has been a source of partisan debate ever since.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Republicans attempted to change how Medicaid was funded. Instead of having the federal government match what states were spending at different levels that were based on what the states needed, they proposed a block grant system. That is, the federal government would have contributed a fixed amount to a state’s Medicaid budget, making it easier to constrain the program’s costs and potentially limiting how much health care it could fund.

These efforts failed, but Trump reintroduced that idea during his first term. And block grants are among the ideas House Republicans have floated since Trump’s second term began to achieve the spending cuts they seek.

The ACA’s expansion

The 2010 Affordable Care Act greatly expanded the Medicaid program by extending its coverage to adults with incomes at or below 138% of the federal poverty line. All but 10 states have joined the Medicaid expansion, which a U.S. Supreme Court ruling made optional.

As of 2023, Medicaid was the country’s largest source of public health insurance, making up 18% of health care expenditures and over half of all spending on long-term care. Medicaid covers nearly 4 in 10 children and 80% of children who live in poverty. Medicaid is a particularly crucial source of coverage for people of color and pregnant women. It also helps pay for low-income people who need skilled nursing and round-the-clock care to live in nursing homes.

In the absence of a universal health care system, Medicaid fills many of the gaps left by private insurance policies for millions of Americans. From Medi-Cal in California to Husky Health in Connecticut, Medicaid is a crucial pillar of the health care system. This makes the proposed House cuts easier said than done.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Ben Zdencanovic, University of California, Los Angeles

Read more:

• GOP lawmakers commit to big spending cuts, putting Medicaid under a spotlight – but trimming the low-income health insurance program would be hard
• Cutting Medicaid and federal programs are among 4 key Trump administration policy changes that could make life harder for disabled people
• From FDR’s food stamps to Trump’s harvest boxes: The history of helping the poor get enough to eat

Ben Zdencanovic does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Feature Image: President Lyndon B. Johnson, left, next to former President Harry S. Truman, signs into law the measure creating Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. AP Photo

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By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

As the incoming administration prepares to enact sweeping changes to health policy, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s controversial appointment to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Biden-Harris Administration is addressing a critical health issue: obesity. A new proposal aims to expand Medicare and Medicaid coverage for anti-obesity medications (AOMs), potentially providing millions of Americans access to life-saving treatments.

Obesity, which affects an estimated 42 percent of the U.S. population, is a chronic disease linked to increased mortality and serious conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. Despite recent advancements in obesity treatment, including medications that can reduce heart attack risk and Type 2 diabetes, these drugs remain prohibitively expensive, often costing up to $1,000 per month without insurance.

The Biden-Harris proposal seeks to broaden Medicare and Medicaid coverage for these medications, reducing out-of-pocket costs by up to 95 percent for some enrollees. The expanded coverage could benefit an estimated 3.4 million Medicare beneficiaries and 4 million Medicaid enrollees. “This proposal ensures that Americans can access treatments they need to lead healthier lives without financial burden,” a senior administration official stated.

Kennedy’s Controversial Appointment Raises Questions About the Future of Healthcare

The proposal comes as President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to appoint Kennedy as HHS Secretary has drawn widespread criticism. Kennedy, known for his distrust of pharmaceuticals and promotion of healthcare-related conspiracy theories, has repeatedly criticized the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for what he calls its “aggressive suppression of psychedelics.” On his podcast, Kennedy described the United States as “the sickest country in the world,” blaming a healthcare system focused on “pills and potions” rather than building immune systems and promoting holistic health.

Kennedy has also advanced the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism, a stance that has alarmed public health officials. Even the New York Post, which has previously praised Kennedy, warned that his confirmation could be disastrous for public health. In a 2023 editorial, the Post highlighted Kennedy’s claim that “all America’s chronic health problems began in one year in the 1980s,” calling his views both unscientific and dangerous.

If confirmed, Kennedy would wield significant power to reshape the healthcare system, with much of his rhetoric on psychedelics and the pharmaceutical industry mirroring that of Elon Musk, who Trump has also tapped for a cabinet position.

Biden-Harris Administration Focuses on Affordable Healthcare

In contrast, the Biden-Harris Administration continues to prioritize accessible healthcare. Since taking office, President Biden has strengthened Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act through measures like the American Rescue Plan Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. These efforts have already delivered significant savings for millions of Americans, including insulin price caps, free vaccines, and a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap for prescription drugs starting in 2025.

The proposal to expand AOM coverage builds on this record, aiming to address obesity comprehensively through prevention, treatment, and systemic change. The administration’s National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health has already integrated nutrition and obesity counseling into Medicare and Medicaid, targeting diet-related diseases such as obesity.

Looking Ahead

As the U.S. prepares for a dramatic shift in health policy under Trump’s administration, the Biden-Harris Administration’s final actions emphasize reducing costs and expanding access to life-saving treatments. By broadening AOM coverage, millions of Americans could soon have the support they need to address obesity and its related health challenges. The Biden-Harris administration’s efforts starkly contrast to the incoming leadership at HHS, whose unorthodox views and conspiracy theories have sparked significant public concern.

“We can lower drug prices and improve health outcomes for Americans,” Biden stated.

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By Alex Hoagland, University of Toronto and Michal Horný, UMass Amherst

Even though preventive care is supposed to be free by law for millions of Americans thanks to the Affordable Care Act, many don’t receive recommended preventive services, especially racial and ethnic minorities and other at-risk patient groups.

The Affordable Care Act exempted preventive services from patient cost-sharing for large chunks of the population. This means that if you receive preventive screening and have private insurance, including through the ACA Marketplace, there should be no copay at time of service, and you shouldn’t get a bill later on. Easy enough, right?

Wrong. Our team of health economists has shown that patients spend millions of dollars every year on unexpected bills for preventive care. The main reason for this is that no specific regulations were put in place to determine exactly which services should be exempted, or for whom, or how often. This omission has left many people on the hook to pay for valuable health care they thought would be free.

Now, in our recently published research in the journal JAMA Network Open, we’ve found that the burden of paying for what should be free preventive care disproportionately falls on some patient groups.

Inequitable claim denials

Looking at data from over 1.5 million patients, our study demonstrates that insurers deny preventive claims for patients from marginalized communities at higher rates than for those from majority groups.

For example, low-income patients were 43% more likely than high-income patients to have their claims denied. In addition, Asian, Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black patients were each roughly twice as likely as non-Hispanic white patients to have claims denied.

Not only were these patients denied routine benefits, but they also saw large differences in rates of billing errors. For example, patients with a high school diploma or less experienced denials due to this kind of billing error almost twice as often than patients with college degrees. All of these services should have been covered by an insurer.

Research on preventive care access is commonly based only on claims data, which doesn’t typically have information on patient demographics. This lack limits a study’s ability to detect differences across patient groups. Our study, however, uses a combination of linked claims data, remittance data containing information on why claims were denied and whether they were resubmitted, and demographic data from self-reports, purchase transactions and voter registries. Together, this richer dataset allowed us to examine differences in denials based on race and ethnicity, education and income, including reasons why patients were denied care.

Preventive care is essential

Equitable access to preventive health care is about more than just physicals, although those are important, too. Preventive health care includes key screenings for cancers, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, access to contraceptives, and mental health checkups, among other services. Ensuring that insurers provide equal coverage for these services for all patients is important to improve health outcomes and quality of life for everyone while reducing future health care costs.

Our results paint a picture of the kinds of hurdles patients face when they seek health screenings. Patients from underrepresented groups were not only more likely to be told their care wouldn’t be covered. They were also more likely to have their claims processed incorrectly, leading to more frequent denials and, ultimately, larger medical bills.

Unexpected bills can affect both a patient’s current health and their future use of health care services. These hurdles can exacerbate an already tenuous trust in a fragmented health care system, making patients less likely to return for follow-up screenings.

Stacked coverage denials for patients who live with multiple marginalized identities or who are less able to advocate for themselves can further entrench racial and socioeconomic inequities.

Ensuring equitable access

Our study paints a compelling picture of where different patients may face hurdles for getting preventive care, but more research is necessary to identify how to ensure equitable access.

As our study looked only at preventive services, we will also need to see how our findings generalize to other forms of health care. More research is also needed to understand how other vulnerable patient groups, such as LGBTQ+ patients or patients with multiple chronic conditions, fare when trying to access care.

Our team is currently studying how actual bills for care differ across patient groups and how patients respond when bills arrive. In our study, more than two-thirds of denied claims were never resubmitted to insurers, meaning that many billing errors go uncorrected at patients’ expense.

Equitable policy on multiple fronts can help rectify the way preventive care is inconsistently and inequitably provided. These include uniform coverage of preventive care by insurers, standardized billing practices for physicians and improved means for patients to advocate for themselves. This can help ensure that everyone has appropriate access to lifesaving health care.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Alex Hoagland, University of Toronto and Michal Horný, UMass Amherst

Read more:

• Got an unaffordable or incorrect medical bill? Calling your hospital billing office will usually get you a discount
• The next attack on the Affordable Care Act may cost you free preventive health care
• Health care under Harris versus Trump: A public health historian sizes up their records

Alex Hoagland receives funding from the Commonwealth Fund and the National Institute on Aging.

Michal Horný received funding from the Commonwealth Fund, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. He also received speaker honorariums and travel support from Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.

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By Erin Duffy, University of Southern California

What do you do when you disagree with or can’t afford a medical bill?

Many Americans struggle to pay medical bills, avoid care because of cost worries or forgo other needs due to health care cost burdens.

It can be hard to understand what you’re being charged for on a medical bill. I’m a health policy and economics researcher who studies insurance and out-of-pocket health care expenses, and even I sit at my kitchen table trying to wrap my head around bills and explanations of benefits.

In my newly published research, I surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,135 American adults – a subset of participants from the University of Southern California’s Understanding America Study – to find out how they handle troubling medical bills. I learned that advocating for yourself can pay off when it comes to medical bills, and you may be missing out on financial relief when you don’t pick up the phone.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease

My team and I found that 1 in 5 patients had received a health care bill in the prior year that they disagreed with or couldn’t afford. Nearly 35% of the bills came from doctor’s offices, nearly 20% from emergency rooms or urgent care and over 15% from hospitals. Other sources of bills included labs, imaging centers and dental offices.

A little over 61% of respondents contacted the billing office about a troubling bill, but 2 in 5 did not. Why not? About 86% of patients said they did not think it would make a difference.

But reaching out got results. Nearly 76% of patients who reached out got financial relief for an unaffordable bill. Nearly 74% who spoke up about a potential billing mistake received bill corrections. For those who negotiated their bills, nearly 62% saw a price drop.

Additionally, 18% of patients who reached out got a better understanding of their bill, 16% set up payment plans and a little over 7% got the bill canceled altogether. Nearly 22% said their issue was unresolved, and 24% reported no change.

The majority of people who reached out about their medical bills reported that it took less than one hour to handle their issue.

Picking up the phone

We found that people with a more extroverted and less agreeable personality – based on the Big Five Personality Test – were more likely to reach out about a medical bill. People without a college degree, with lower financial literacy or with no health insurance were less likely to reach out to a billing office.

Differences in who does and doesn’t call about a medical bill may be exacerbating inequalities in how much people end up paying for health care and who has medical debt.

Many Americans are in health plans with high out-of-pocket cost sharing, including high-deductible plans. This so-called consumer-directed health care paradigm is intended to motivate consumers to be more cost-conscious when seeking care and navigating their bills. But by design, it puts the burden on patients to deal with billing issues.

Another recent study my team and I conducted found that 87% of U.S. hospitals offer their own payment plans, but only 22% of these put plan details on their websites. You have to call for more information.

In another recent study, my team called hospitals as “secret shoppers” planning an elective knee surgery. We sought information critical to assessing affordability: financial assistance, payment plans and payment timing options. While the information was often available, it was hard to access. We couldn’t reach a representative with information at about 18% of hospitals, even after calling on three different days. We were typically directed to three different offices to get all the information we wanted.

Policymakers have made strides in price transparency in recent years. For example, hospitals are required to post prices for their products and services. Practices and policies that further reduce the administrative burden of accessing aid and navigating troubling bills.

Pro tip: Make the call

Patients who make the call are benefiting when it comes to medical bills.

A colleague who knew I was working on this study asked me for advice about a $425 bill her household had received for a lab test at an urgent care center. The bill seemed inflated and unfair, forcing an unexpected stretch to her budget.

I told her it was worth a call to the billing office to express her feelings about the bill and see whether any adjustments could be made to the amount owed or the timing of payment.

It was worth the call. The billing office representative offered three options on the spot: a.) a payment plan, b.) a prompt payment of $126 paid immediately over the phone to settle the account, or c.) financial assistance if eligible based on income.

My colleague chose option b and paid less than one-third of the original bill amount.

The next time you get a medical bill that troubles you, pick up the phone or ask a disagreeable extrovert to make the call for you.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Erin Duffy, University of Southern California

Read more:

• The next attack on the Affordable Care Act may cost you free preventive health care
• Hispanic health disparities in the US trace back to the Spanish Inquisition
• Pharma’s expensive gaming of the drug patent system is successfully countered by the Medicines Patent Pool, which increases global access and rewards innovation

Erin Duffy receives funding from Arnold Ventures and provides expert testimony on matters in the health insurance and hospital sectors.

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Contributed

Springdale, Ohio — Velocity Clinical Research, 375 Glensprings Drive, 2nd Floor, Cincinnati, 45246, Phone: (513) 671-8080

Research studies are crucial, especially for developing vaccines to protect older adults and people with underlying medical conditions. Velocity is now enrolling people age 18 to 64 for an investigational influenza (flu) and COVID-19 vaccine study. Eligible participants will receive compensation for study-related time.

Velocity is conducting a study for a combined, investigational flu and COVID-19 vaccine. Eligible participants …

• Must be age 18 to 64
• Must NOT have received an investigational or approved influenza vaccine within the past 6 months
• Must NOT have received an investigational or approved COVID-19 vaccine within the past 6 months
• Will receive compensation for study-related time
• Do not need insurance to join this study

The post Get paid to test new vaccine appeared first on The Cincinnati Herald .

Featured guest: Candace M. Bates

Continuing our series with Candace M. Bates, we’ve been realigning our goals but also making sure you have all the tools at hand to be successful. As an entrepreneur myself, I know the importance of making sure your business foundation is strong, first and foremost. Herald Beauty has been fortunate enough to highlight so many beauty businesses in 2021, we also want to help these businesses succeed. We will be doing a serious of Beauty & Business pieces to do just that. 

I had the great opportunity to sit down with Candace M. Bates who has an insurance agency (Black Woman Owned) The Candace Bates State Farm Agency -that helps with this initiative.  

Please check out these helpful life insurance tips Candace shared. For more information, please visit the Chocolate News podcast on thecincinnatiherald.com and also https://www.candacebatesinsurance.com/

March is Women’s History Month, here are some facts you may not know:

• Women’s life span is almost 8% on average longer than men’s
• The average expectancy in women at birth is 79 while men is 72
• Disturbing 2021 study in Insurance Barometer, shows that just 47% of women have life insurance, verses 58% of men. We need to change this narrative, and I would like to talk more about it.
• We have personalized options; call me today to book your appointment to talk about it!

The post Beauty & Business: A follow up conversation from The Chocolate News Part 3 appeared first on The Cincinnati Herald .

Wayne Sloan

Business & Personal Insurance Specialist

Milford, Ohio 

• If you own a small business, you may want to consider converting your business from a sole proprietorship to a corporation or LLC. Consult your tax advisor.
• Insurance Update For Contractor Tools, Equipment & Property Coverage: A) Bought or sold any equipment, Bobats, Excavators, Riding Lawn Mowers, Pickup trucks, Dump Trucks, Hand tools valued over $3000

B) $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 General Liability C) Property insurance covers- damage to your buildings, office equipment, and any materials stored inside D)  Installation Coverage-materials, supplies and fixtures in storage, intransit, or being installed as part of a new construction or renovation job E) Errors and Omissions- Coverage protection if the work you perform was done incorrectly or negligently 

• Update customer contracts for upcoming construction season– Have your customer’s contract reviewed by a construction attorney to catch issues and correct them before you enter into a bad contract. 

Do you have a business portfolio to present to prospects?– Updated business insurance certificate of insurance, Updated building permits, Review your statement of what you can offer your customers, Pictures of before & after your work is completed, Letters from satisfied customers

The post Ask the Insurance Man: Contractors: Planning ahead, spring is near appeared first on The Cincinnati Herald .

Featured guest: Candace M. Bates

Continuing our series with Candace M. Bates, we’ve been realigning our goals but also making sure you have all the tools at hand to be successful. As an entrepreneur myself, I know the importance of making sure your business foundation is strong, first and foremost. Herald Beauty has been fortunate enough to highlight so many beauty businesses in 2021, we also want to help these businesses succeed. We will be doing a serious of Beauty & Business pieces to do just that. 

I had the great opportunity to sit down with Candace M. Bates who has an insurance agency (Black Woman Owned) The Candace Bates State Farm Agency -that helps with this initiative.  

Please check out these helpful life insurance tips Candace shared. For more information, please visit the Chocolate News podcast on thecincinnatiherald.com and also https://www.candacebatesinsurance.com/

February is Life Happens: INSURE (Love) the One You’re With!

∙         Life Insurance is essential to help protect the future of those who rely on you for support

∙         In the event of sudden death, life insurance will provide your family with the financial support they need for the future.  

∙         Single, No Kids? Yes, life insurance is good option of accruing cash value on a permanent policy that may be used for future purposes like buying a home or investing.  

∙         Term and Permanent Options are available with State Farm.

∙         We have personalized options; call me today to book your appointment to talk about it!

Link to Podcast episode featuring Candace Bates: https://chocolatenewspodcast.buzzsprout.com/1613785/10146509-chocolate-news-podcast-black-dementia-minds-candace-bates-part-2

The post Beauty & Business: A follow up conversation from The Chocolate News Part 2 appeared first on The Cincinnati Herald .

Featured guest: Candace M. Bates

By Morgan Angelique Owens,

Chief Creative Beauty Consultant

It’s a new year, so that means realigning your goals but also making sure you have all the tools at hand to be successful. As an entrepreneur myself, I know the importance of making sure your business foundation is strong, first and foremost. Herald Beauty has been fortunate enough to highlight so many beauty businesses in 2021, we also want to help these businesses succeed. We will be doing a serious of Beauty & Business pieces to do just that.

I had the great opportunity to sit down with Candace M. Bates who has an insurance agency (Black Woman Owned) The Candace Bates State Farm Agency -that helps with this initiative. 

Please check out these helpful small home business tips Candace shared. For more information, please visit the Chocolate News podcast on thecincinnatiherald.com and also https://www.candacebatesinsurance.com/

Options to Consider when insuring your small home business

Edited By: Candace M. Bates

More than half of America’s businesses are home-based. But setting up headquarters in your home does not mean your homeowners insurance will adequately protect your operation.

A typical homeowners policy covers around $2,500 of coverage for business property. This will usually cover equipment, but it will not extend liability insurance in the event that you are liable or negligent for something pertaining to your business.

1. Adding an “in-home business policy” provides more comprehensive coverage for business equipment and liability than a homeowner’s insurance endorsement.
2. A business insurance policy will cover you for home-based, business related activities that extends your liability should you be responsible for an accident.
3.  A “non-tenant” business liability policy is an option for Artisan and Service Contractors that do work outside of their home for their business (i.e., painters, plumbing, photographers, bakeries).

Making sure that you are properly equipped with the right tools to be successful is important when starting any small business. Providing customers with the appropriate data to help them make the best decisions for their business while becoming a new entrepreneur is vital. This is a huge step, and one should not feel like they need to make it alone. Ask your local State Farm Insurance Agent, Candace Bates; She and her team are readily available to assist you!

Stay tuned for more tips and tools to help you and your beauty business be successful in 2022 and beyond!

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By Dr. Tyra Oldham

An essential part of caregiving for the family member is insurance. The care and support of insurance are tantamount to essential care. The issue that children and caregivers have regarding family is activating insurance when necessary. The ability to advocate with insurance is stressful, time-consuming, and vital to your loved ones. The professional caregiver they too, are impacted by insurance in that they may not have the services or supplies necessary for their client’s healthy lifestyle day-to-day.

Under the last administration, healthcare has changed. The decisions of your loved one’s care are no longer in the hands of the doctor’s order when using managed care. Under managed care, even premium, the insurance company has the last say. The inability to intervene in your loved one’s care is stressful, lengthy, and time-consuming. The goal is to become an advocate for those you love. Advocacy is the difference between care and no care. 

Even with advocacy, you are fighting a battle, but yet it is a battle worth doing.

Today, people are sent home after knee and hip surgeries to attend outpatient rehab while convalescing at home. Previously patients, after undergoing surgery, were sent to rehabilitation to heal, regain strength, and be monitored. Today hospitals are sending patients home rather than rehabilitation to recover. Today the family member is the rehabilitation solution and care provider acting as a nurse and responsible for gaining access to therapies. One answer is to appeal the findings of your insurance directly.

Have you ever had to appeal to the insurance company on behalf of your loved one? It is not wimps! 

Make sure you have the power of attorney or health care proxy approvals to submit. You will not be able to discuss their care without these documents in place. The best solution is to provide these documents ahead of time to your loved ones’ hospital, pension, insurance, Social Security, and Medicare.

The family caregiver or POA (power of attorney) holding the healthy proxy and rights of the patient are responsible for the life decisions of their family. Imagine that the POA is the spouse or partner who is also infirmed or older. When both need care and one is healthy enough to be considered a caregiver, this places an enormous load on that other person. Insurance has defaulted to having the able body person be the default nurse, caregiver, and therapist. I, too, have experienced being relegated to these services despite the fact that I am not a physical or occupational therapist. Insurance has defaulted me to these professions without the expertise to deliver. My gosh, I am strong and capable, but the person who is the active caregiver is not all-encompassing or knowing. This problem is not just an aging issue but a parental or family issue for those who care for one another. The importance of advocacy with insurance is to make sure that the insured has access to positive care.

As an advocate, the role is to gain information and respond prudently to the insurance company. As much as you like to scream and yell at the insurance representatives, this action is far from supportive of accomplishing your goal. Keeping focused and calm at all times is required and necessary for proactive-empathetic communication that expresses the needs of your loved one to the company.

Never be afraid to actively appeal and go up the ladder of services to access the proper services required. Purposeful steps are necessary to make your demands known to assist your family member or client. Deliver precise, concise needs that your family member requires for care. Consider the impact without the care. Critically analyze the overall needs and why the insurance is vital. Stay focused and seek help when needed, such as Pro Seniors, to gain legal support. AARP for advocacy and advice. Social workers and your medical professionals. And if your loved one is experiencing mental disease, contact Alzheimer’s Association. This month is Alzheimer’s Month. Please give!

For more information on care support and caregiving advice, write or email the “Care Corner.” Want to discuss care? Care Corner is that place to talk care, address questions for current and potential caregivers, and provide suggestions on agencies, services, and tips to assist in a care journey. (Read more of the article from the Herald Newspaper– subscribe now) 

The Care Corner is for everyone, no matter their age or process in care. For more information on caregiving, send your questions to Care Corner at the Cincinnati Herald or via email at care@carecorner.info.

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