To replace an image, select the png or jpeg on the canvas or in the layers panel and click the "Replace image" button, which is next to the image thumbnail in the design panel. Any applied animation to the original image will carry over to the new one.
Tip: Try to make the new image a similar size and dimension to the image being replaced.
To replace an image, select the png or jpeg on the canvas or in the layers panel and click the "Replace image" button, which is next to the image thumbnail in the design panel. Any applied animation to the original image will carry over to the new one.
Tip: Try to make the new image a similar size and dimension to the image being replaced.
Tip: How to save time when creating a tab module from scratch.
Create one tab that has the images, text format, animations, and interactions you want the other tabs in the module to have. Copy and paste the tab and change the names of the pasted tab folders in the layers panel. You can then change the text and images in each tab. This is more efficient than making each tab from scratch.
Turn flat objects into multidimensional, dynamic content by adding a drop shadow.
To apply a drop shadow, select the shape or image and add a shadow in the design panel. Experiment with the shadow color, blurriness, and position in relation to the asset.
Round the corners on images and rectangles.
To do this, select an image or rectangle and change the value under "Corner Radius" in the Design tab in the Inspector Panel.
To replace an image, select the png or jpeg on the canvas or in the layers panel and click the "Replace image" button, which is next to the image thumbnail in the design panel. Any applied animation to the original image will carry over to the new one.
Tip: Try to make the new image a similar size and dimension to the image being replaced.
Create digestible content and save screen real-estate by condensing lengthy content into categories that can be viewed on separate tabs.
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The co-managers of Tocqueville Asset Management's Enhanced Income Strategy offering count JPMorgan preferred stock among their holdings.
Cautious buying in
today's market
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7 stocks to get you thinking like Buffett
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15 ‘dividend kings’ for today’s market
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Dividend Stocks
Oracle of Omaha
Investing Strategies
Interest Rates
INVESTING IDEAS
Tip: How to save time when creating a tab module from scratch.
Create one tab that has the images, text format, animations, and interactions you want the other tabs in the module to have. Copy and paste the tab and change the names of the pasted tab folders in the layers panel. You can then change the text and images in each tab. This is more efficient than making each tab from scratch.
Turn flat objects into multidimensional, dynamic content by adding a drop shadow.
To apply a drop shadow, select the shape or image and add a shadow in the design panel. Experiment with the shadow color, blurriness, and position in relation to the asset.
Round the corners on images and rectangles.
To do this, select an image or rectangle and change the value under "Corner Radius" in the Design tab in the Inspector Panel.
To replace an image, select the png or jpeg on the canvas or in the layers panel and click the "Replace image" button, which is next to the image thumbnail in the design panel. Any applied animation to the original image will carry over to the new one.
Tip: Try to make the new image a similar size and dimension to the image being replaced.
Create digestible content and save screen real-estate by condensing lengthy content into categories that can be viewed on separate tabs.
Template - Horizontal Tab Module
1280px x 720px
Once the current crisis subsides, workers will need to focus on rebuilding their savings, including those who reduced their savings rate to preserve cash. That means re-enrolling in a retirement plan and committing to gradual but steady increases in contributions at some point in the future.
For those wondering how best to play catch-up, I suggest you default to the following: Go back to your precrisis saving rate next year, then increase that rate 2 percentage points annually until you reach 15%, the new cap under a new law known as the Secure Act.
You can set up a basic version of this nudge on your own, putting a reminder in your calendar to increase your savings rate next year, or on your next birthday. Research shows that people are particularly likely to take steps to achieve a goal during certain temporal landmarks that represent new beginnings, whether it’s a birthday or new year. This is known as the fresh start effect.
Of course, it’s a lot better if employers and plan providers create autopilots for these interventions, making it easy for people to commit to save more with a single click. Most already offer a version of the “savings escalator,” but every employer should.
Companies also could encourage employees to save at a higher rate in the future by implementing a “stretched match.” For example, instead of offering 50 cents on the dollar up to 6%, they could offer 25 cents up to 15%. In the short-term, this will save companies money. In the long run, it will encourage workers to save more and demonstrate a commitment of the company to their retirement success.
Unfortunately, millions of workers won’t be able to keep saving with their current employer because they have lost jobs due to Covid-19. These Americans are facing perhaps the hardest decision of all: What should they do with their old retirement accounts?
Generally speaking, when people change jobs, about a third of workers keep the account with their old employer, a third roll it over to an IRA, and a third cash it out.
My rule of thumb for the newly unemployed is to keep your retirement account where it is. You often benefit from lower investment-management fees and it is the path of least resistance. However, if you want to mentally “close the chapter” with your old employer, and you don’t need the funds right away, it’s definitely better to roll it over than cash out.
Be aware, however, that our current system almost always makes it easier to cash out than roll it over. This is backward. Given the need for savings, companies and plan providers need to make rolling over a retirement account as easy as cashing out.
Once the current crisis subsides, workers will need to focus on rebuilding their savings, including those who reduced their savings rate to preserve cash. That means re-enrolling in a retirement plan and committing to gradual but steady increases in contributions at some point in the future.
For those wondering how best to play catch-up, I suggest you default to the following: Go back to your precrisis saving rate next year, then increase that rate 2 percentage points annually until you reach 15%, the new cap under a new law known as the Secure Act.
You can set up a basic version of this nudge on your own, putting a reminder in your calendar to increase your savings rate next year, or on your next birthday. Research shows that people are particularly likely to take steps to achieve a goal during certain temporal landmarks that represent new beginnings, whether it’s a birthday or new year. This is known as the fresh start effect.
Of course, it’s a lot better if employers and plan providers create autopilots for these interventions, making it easy for people to commit to save more with a single click. Most already offer a version of the “savings escalator,” but every employer should.
Companies also could encourage employees to save at a higher rate in the future by implementing a “stretched match.” For example, instead of offering 50 cents on the dollar up to 6%, they could offer 25 cents up to 15%. In the short-term, this will save companies money. In the long run, it will encourage workers to save more and demonstrate a commitment of the company to their retirement success.
Unfortunately, millions of workers won’t be able to keep saving with their current employer because they have lost jobs due to Covid-19. These Americans are facing perhaps the hardest decision of all: What should they do with their old retirement accounts?
Generally speaking, when people change jobs, about a third of workers keep the account with their old employer, a third roll it over to an IRA, and a third cash it out.
My rule of thumb for the newly unemployed is to keep your retirement account where it is. You often benefit from lower investment-management fees and it is the path of least resistance. However, if you want to mentally “close the chapter” with your old employer, and you don’t need the funds right away, it’s definitely better to roll it over than cash out.
Be aware, however, that our current system almost always makes it easier to cash out than roll it over. This is backward. Given the need for savings, companies and plan providers need to make rolling over a retirement account as easy as cashing out.
Rebuilding your savings
My last rule of thumb is aimed at retirees who are debating whether to skip their required minimum distribution, or RMD, for 2020.
If you don’t need the money—and you may not, since many Americans have cut back on spending amid the current crisis—don’t take it out this year. I’m not recommending this because of recent market performance or trying to time the market. Rather, it’s because skipping your RMD this year means you will have more later, and thus reduce the very real risk of outliving your assets.
If you need the money, I recommend taking it out little by little, perhaps every month or quarter, to avoid the potential regret of selling assets near the bottom of a correction.
One day, the Covid-19 pandemic will be a distant memory. However, the financial decisions we make during this crisis will have long-term consequences, potentially reducing our financial security well into the future. Unless we give people clear and simple recommendations, and make it easy for them to follow, our well-intentioned reforms might backfire.
Take or skip?
Rebuilding your savings
My last rule of thumb is aimed at retirees who are debating whether to skip their required minimum distribution, or RMD, for 2020.
If you don’t need the money—and you may not, since many Americans have cut back on spending amid the current crisis—don’t take it out this year. I’m not recommending this because of recent market performance or trying to time the market. Rather, it’s because skipping your RMD this year means you will have more later, and thus reduce the very real risk of outliving your assets.
If you need the money, I recommend taking it out little by little, perhaps every month or quarter, to avoid the potential regret of selling assets near the bottom of a correction.
One day, the Covid-19 pandemic will be a distant memory. However, the financial decisions we make during this crisis will have long-term consequences, potentially reducing our financial security well into the future. Unless we give people clear and simple recommendations, and make it easy for them to follow, our well-intentioned reforms might backfire.
Take or skip?
The first difficult decision faced by workers who are forced to pull money from retirement savings is whether to take a hardship withdrawal or loan. The withdrawal might seem to offer the best of both worlds under the new law. It doesn’t have to be repaid—but if the worker can repay it within three years, he or she will get a refund on taxes paid. A loan, on the other hand, must be repaid on a fixed schedule.
The flexibility associated with the withdrawal, however, is likely an illusion. That’s because retirement plans don’t have automated repayment systems for withdrawals like they do for loans. Instead, workers will have to remember to send checks or payments on their own, and behavioral research tells us most are unlikely to do so.
What’s more, claiming the tax benefit for repaying Covid-19 withdrawals is likely to require a professional accountant, as workers will be seeking a credit for taxes they’ve already paid.
Therefore, if you are serious about putting back whatever amount you pull out, go with a loan because it makes repayment easy. (You also have more years to pay it back.) If you don’t think you’ll repay, or if you are likely to lose your job, use the Covid-19 withdrawal.
That said, employers should still set up auto-payment systems to help people pay back their withdrawals.
After deciding between a loan or a withdrawal, the next question is how much to pull out. To make it easy, I propose this general guideline: Take half of what you think you might need.
To understand why “take half” is a valuable nudge, it’s important to understand how most people settle on financial numbers, whether it’s an initial savings rate or a loan amount. Research that I conducted with Nobel laureate Richard Thaler suggests that many people rely on mental shortcuts when making difficult financial decisions instead of considering their actual needs. For instance, we found that people were nearly 20 times as likely to select 10% as a savings rate rather than 9% or 11%. Why is that? Because 10% is an easy round number to consider. This tendency could lead some workers to take out the maximum permitted under the Cares Act simply because it is easy.
By following my “take half” rule, you will preserve more of your nest egg and maintain the option of taking out the second half at a later date. And considering that most Americans have significantly cut back their spending during the shutdown, you might not need the money.
The only potential problem with this approach is that some employers don’t let plan participants take out multiple loans. Companies should consider lifting this restriction to discourage workers from taking out larger loans, just in case they need the money.
What about those who decide against a loan or withdrawal but want to cut back on their savings rate to preserve cash? Try to save at least save the minimum needed to get the maximum employer match. In other words, don’t leave money on the table.
Dipping in
The first difficult decision faced by workers who are forced to pull money from retirement savings is whether to take a hardship withdrawal or loan. The withdrawal might seem to offer the best of both worlds under the new law. It doesn’t have to be repaid—but if the worker can repay it within three years, he or she will get a refund on taxes paid. A loan, on the other hand, must be repaid on a fixed schedule.
The flexibility associated with the withdrawal, however, is likely an illusion. That’s because retirement plans don’t have automated repayment systems for withdrawals like they do for loans. Instead, workers will have to remember to send checks or payments on their own, and behavioral research tells us most are unlikely to do so.
What’s more, claiming the tax benefit for repaying Covid-19 withdrawals is likely to require a professional accountant, as workers will be seeking a credit for taxes they’ve already paid.
Therefore, if you are serious about putting back whatever amount you pull out, go with a loan because it makes repayment easy. (You also have more years to pay it back.) If you don’t think you’ll repay, or if you are likely to lose your job, use the Covid-19 withdrawal.
That said, employers should still set up auto-payment systems to help people pay back their withdrawals.
After deciding between a loan or a withdrawal, the next question is how much to pull out. To make it easy, I propose this general guideline: Take half of what you think you might need.
To understand why “take half” is a valuable nudge, it’s important to understand how most people settle on financial numbers, whether it’s an initial savings rate or a loan amount. Research that I conducted with Nobel laureate Richard Thaler suggests that many people rely on mental shortcuts when making difficult financial decisions instead of considering their actual needs. For instance, we found that people were nearly 20 times as likely to select 10% as a savings rate rather than 9% or 11%. Why is that? Because 10% is an easy round number to consider. This tendency could lead some workers to take out the maximum permitted under the Cares Act simply because it is easy.
By following my “take half” rule, you will preserve more of your nest egg and maintain the option of taking out the second half at a later date. And considering that most Americans have significantly cut back their spending during the shutdown, you might not need the money.
The only potential problem with this approach is that some employers don’t let plan participants take out multiple loans. Companies should consider lifting this restriction to discourage workers from taking out larger loans, just in case they need the money.
What about those who decide against a loan or withdrawal but want to cut back on their savings rate to preserve cash? Try to save at least save the minimum needed to get the maximum employer match. In other words, don’t leave money on the table.
Dipping in
Do you have to pay more for a policy that doesn't require a medical exam?
Some insurers require people to wait for at least 30 or 90 days before applying for coverage if they've been exposed to anyone with COVID-19. (GETTY IMAGES)
Not if they can avoid it. In normal times, most life insurance companies require a paramedical exam, where someone comes to the applicant's home to take blood and other tests and ask about their medical history. It's difficult to have in-person visits during the coronavirus pandemic, so more insurers are starting to offer policies without a medical exam. You'll usually need to answer extra questions about your health history on the application, and the insurers also use other methods to assess your risk – such as records of your prescription medications, information from previous life insurance applications from the Medical Information Bureau, records from recent doctors' visits (electronic medical records, when possible) and your driving records. Some companies use credit scores, and others use black box-type "risk scores" that are put together by the big data companies like TransUnion or LexisNexis, says Udell.
Some companies aren't eliminating paramedical exams entirely, but are bypassing them whenever possible. "Under certain circumstances, depending on their age and how much insurance they want, we'll run clients through a predictive model, and they may not need a paramedic exam or fluids tested to be issued a policy," says Quentin Doll, vice president of life insurance products for Northwestern Mutual. "If you can go through the accelerated process, we can issue a policy within a day or two. That's our goal."
Are insurers still requiring a paramedical examiner to come to your home when you apply for coverage?
Not necessarily. In the past, the premiums were much higher for policies that didn't require a medical exam. But as insurers use other resources to assess risk, the prices have become much more competitive. In fact, the companies that don't require medical exams currently have the lowest rates for some ages and policy amounts, says Udell. The no-exam companies generally have coverage limits ranging from $100,000 to $1 million, with the lower limits for older applicants. Udell works with about six companies that aren't requiring an exam now, and about 10 more don't require an exam if you meet certain medical requirements on your application. The no-exam policies can be issued within a few days.
For example, a 40-year-old man who is in excellent health can get a $500,000, 20-year term insurance policy for $309 per year from a company that doesn't do exams, which is better than the rate for the companies Udell works with that do require medical exams. For a 50-year-old man, the least expensive company Udell works with is charging $858 per year for a 20-year $500,000 policy, but it requires a medical exam. The lowest-cost company that doesn't require a medical exam is charging $940 per year. (Premiums are lower for women.)
Not right away, but the rules vary a lot by company and are constantly evolving.
People who have had symptoms or tested positive for COVID-19 have to be symptom-free for a month before Northwestern Mutual will start underwriting their policy, says Doll. "Once they've fully recovered, and as long as there are no continuing underlying conditions, there's nothing that would prevent them from getting coverage."
Some insurers require people to wait for at least 30 or 90 days before applying for coverage if they've been exposed to anyone with COVID-19, says Udell. Exposure can be difficult to prove, but that would make it hard to get coverage if anyone who lives with you has had a positive COVID-19 test.
Can someone with coronavirus symptoms or who has tested positive for COVID-19 get life insurance?
Probably, but you may have a few options. If you're just furloughed, your employer may keep your coverage for a while. "It's all over the board," says Robert McGee, senior director of absence, disability management and life insurance for Willis Towers Watson. "Some carriers say they'll allow an employer to continue coverage for employees on furlough or temporary layoff for two to 12 months."
If your employer's coverage ends after you are laid off, you may be able to convert the term policy into a whole life policy that you can keep after you leave your job. "But the increase in premium can be astronomical," says McGee. "That conversion option usually is not the best option for someone who is laid off." Some policies offer a "portability" option that lets you switch to your own term insurance policy, which costs less than the conversion policy but may still be more expensive than buying your own coverage if you're healthy, he says.
If I have life insurance through my employer and lose my job, will I lose my life insurance coverage too?
Contact your agent and insurer and find out about your options. Many insurers are offering more payment flexibility over the next few months. New York Life, for example, is temporarily pausing cancellations for non-payment of premiums through June 23, 2020 (only for policies that were issued before March 24, 2020 and the first premium has been paid). All missed payments will be due once that period ends.
"Life insurance is one of the most important ways people protect their families, and we have seen a significant increase in interest since this situation emerged," says Aaron Ball, senior vice president and head of insurance solutions at New York Life. "We have been working to ensure that people who want protection for their families can get it, and no existing policyowner loses their life or long-term care insurance coverage during the next several months because of a financial hardship caused by COVID-19."
What happens if I have trouble paying my premiums because of the economic downturn?
Yes. If you already have a permanent life insurance policy, then you can borrow most of the cash value at any time without having to submit a loan application. The loan doesn't affect your credit rating, and you can usually get the money within 48 hours. "Permanent insurance provides a lot of flexibility," says Doll. "It builds accumulated cash value that can be accessed at any time and for any reason very quickly." He says that policy loans have been especially helpful for small business owners who need the extra cash to help keep their businesses running over the next few months.
You pay interest on the loan, but there's no repayment schedule. If you die before repaying the loan, the balance is subtracted from the death benefit.
If I have a permanent life insurance policy, can I use the cash value as an emergency fund?
Not surprisingly, given the indefinitely large sums that BP would potentially have to pay to compensate victims of the spill, the company’s stock plunged . From its close on the day of the Deepwater explosion to its low on June 25 of that year, its stock fell by more than 55%.
It’s what happened in the weeks after that low that is relevant to today’s situation. BP stock’s low point came nearly three months before the oil leak was finally plugged. When it was finally stopped in September, BP’s stock price was more than 40% higher than where it had stood at its low.
This seems curious, to say the least. There would have been no way of knowing in late June when the leak would finally be plugged, and therefore no way of estimating BP’s eventual financial liabilities. And yet that was when BP’s stock hit its low.
While it’s always possible the market was just being irrational, as a general rule it’s dangerous to think we’re right and the market is wrong. The market is a discounting mechanism, and in the days and weeks following that June 25 low, it became increasingly clear that efforts to plug the well would be ultimately successful, even if it was unclear how long it would take. That wasn’t dissimilar to the situation we face today, where we know that we’ll eventually beat back the virus, even if it’s unclear how long it will take.
We know now that investors’ collective judgment following BP’s June 2010 low was right, of course. The stock produced a 58.0% total return over the 12 months following its June 2010 low, according to FactSet, nearly tripling the S&P 500’s 19.9% (.SPX). Over the three years subsequent to that low, the stock produced a 19.8% annualized total return, versus 16.1% for the S&P 500.
Over that three-year period, in fact, BP beat Apple (AAPL) by 4.3 annualized percentage points. Apple was riding high in the summer of 2010, having just overtaken Microsoft (MSFT) to become the company with the second-largest market cap in the world—and yet BP still came out ahead.
To be sure, BP hasn’t outperformed either the S&P 500 or Apple over the nearly 10 years since its June 2010 low, having been particularly hard hit recently by the plunging price of oil. Still, since that low, BP has outperformed the oil-and-gas industry as a whole by 6.6 annualized percentage points. (I used the Vanguard Energy exchange-traded fund (VDE) as a proxy for the industry; see accompanying chart.)
What does all this mean for the current crisis? Don’t sit out this market for too long. The stock market’s low is likely to be registered well in advance of the economy’s low—and well in advance of when a vaccine or other effective treatment for the virus has been discovered. If you were to wait until either or both of these events had occurred before reinvesting in equities, you’d likely be late to the party.
This doesn’t mean the market won’t retest, or even break below, its March 23 low, when the S&P 500 was at 2237.40 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) at 18,591.93. It may very well do so if new developments emerge suggesting the likely eventual economic consequences of the pandemic will be worse than what was already discounted at those lows.
That’s what we should be focusing on, rather than waiting for confirmation that the economy has finally bottomed and a vaccine discovered.
Live telemedicine uses a live audio and video link to enable doctors or other medical professionals to talk with patients, conduct limited examinations, order tests and sometimes diagnose and even treat ailments remotely.
Store-and-forward telemedicine is an asynchronous audio and video link that records descriptions, images and patient data at a time convenient for the patient and transmits it later at a time convenient for a care provider, often a specialist.
Remote patient monitoring uses connected electronic devices to regularly or continuously record health and medical data in one location for review by a provider in another location, usually at a different time.
Mobile health, or mHealth, is health care and public health information provided through mobile devices, such as a smartphone or tablet, to targeted audiences. The public health announcements may be general educational information, targeted texts or notifications about disease outbreaks such as COVID-19.
Telehealth is a broad term that encompasses multiple ways — video conferencing, smartphone apps and other communication tools — caregivers can diagnose, treat and monitor patients without having to be in the same location. Telehealth encompasses several distinct fields:
What is telehealth?
Although many private health insurers have offered telehealth for several years, Medicare has lagged behind covering the service. Then, in March 2020, with the virus spreading rapidly, Washington gave telehealth a shot in the arm by bending long-standing Medicare reimbursement rules for physicians and other health care professionals who use technology to remotely examine and treat Medicare patients at home.
Meanwhile, big health insurers reduced or waived fees for telehealth. For 90 days at the height of the pandemic, Anthem, for example, waived copays and deductibles for all telehealth services, including those for mental health, substance use disorders and treatment or testing for the virus. UnitedHealthcare extended its waiver of some coronavirus-related telehealth fees to include out-of-network doctors.
“We are making every effort to protect the health of our members by keeping them safe in their homes while still enabling them to get the care they need,” says Dirk McMahon, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, which has been covering telehealth services for employer and individual plans since 2016 and self-insured employers since 2015.
Insurance coverage for telehealth
Telehealth advocates say those numbers will change as baby boomers pass away and tech-savvy younger generations, so-called “internet natives,” comprise a larger percentage of the patient pool. The virus may already be accelerating that shift.
At health insurer Anthem, the pandemic and fee waivers are encouraging a lot of people to give telehealth a try. Patients can access Anthem’s telehealth services in one of two ways: LiveHealth Online, which is a two-way video link to doctors, and the insurer’s Sydney Care app, which monitors the user’s health and recommends when medical help may be needed.
“We’ve been tracking utilization of all of our virtual care offerings,” says Leslie Porras, senior public relations director at Anthem. “Completed visits for LiveHealth Online are up 250% versus the norm for this time of year. Since Jan. 1, 2020, we have seen more than 175,000 downloads of the Sydney Care app.”
Something similar has happened at UnitedHealthcare, where the number of telehealth visits increased significantly during the pandemic. The insurer is still examining claims data to determine how much that increase was.
Doctors like Shannon McNamara, an emergency room physician who served as a telemedicine coach, have also embraced virtual visits. During the pandemic, she tweeted that people who were worried they might have COVID-19 or some of its symptoms should set up a video visit with a telehealth doctor.
“The great thing about (telehealth) is getting personalized medical advice,” she tweeted.
Although wait times for telehealth visits have grown since the pandemic began, it’s generally faster and more convenient for most patients to get treated by their doctors this way. Danielle Woodley, a 26-year-old digital marketer in Los Angeles, says she was introduced to telehealth before the pandemic during a trip to Arizona. Her throat was sore and speckled with white dots, suggesting a strep infection, but she was too busy to call her regular doctor in California. Instead, she used a telehealth app that her employer asked all employees to download to their smartphones.
“I love my doctor (in California), but there are so many steps to get seen,” starting with a phone tree just to get through to the voicemail box of the doctor’s scheduler, Woodley says. In contrast, the telehealth service answered her call quickly, and within minutes her prescription medicine was waiting for her at a nearby branch of a national pharmacy chain.
“I thought, ‘actually, this is not bad,’” Woodley says. “It was very convenient. The prescription arrived at the pharmacy much faster than it ever did at home.” Megan Coffman, the administrator of health policy research at the the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care, says the growing demand for telehealth could be matched by new doctors who are comfortable with the technology if they have more experience using it during their medical training.
“Family physicians have identified lack of training on how to use telehealth as a barrier to providing telehealth services,” she says. “If family physicians are not provided opportunities to deliver telehealth in residency, it may prevent them from offering telehealth services to their patients once in practice.”
Convenient and quick
There is evidence of telehealth-driven savings for patients with private insurance. Regence, which operates Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance plans in the Pacific Northwest, calculated that consumers who opted for telehealth over a traditional office visit saved an average of $100 per visit in 2019.
Brian Marcotte, president of the National Business Group on Health, breaks those savings down further. He says having a doctor treat an upper respiratory infection could cost as little as $40 via a video call compared to a doctor’s office visit that would run about $100. An urgent care center’s bill would be something in the neighborhood of $150. A visit to a hospital emergency room could set you back $700, he says.
Politicians are also looking to keep telehealth pricing competitive. In 32 states, virtual visits must cost the same or less than office appointments, with three more states considering similar laws. In rural areas, where the nearest health clinic can be a three-hour drive away, telehealth offers patients the added savings of travel costs.
In fact, the original purpose of telehealth was to deliver better care at lower prices to people in rural areas, but a pilot program in Rochester, N.Y., found that urban areas also reaped similar benefits. Surveys conducted after the program ended found that 93% of patients said telehealth saved them from making expensive after-hours trips to clinics, and 86% said it enabled them to avoid going to an even more expensive emergency room. Telehealth networks also could enable people with asthma, diabetes, arthritis and other chronic illnesses to conduct routine follow-up appointments at home without having to set foot in a doctor’s office.
Some researchers counter that patients, Medicare beneficiaries and insurers won't pay less if telehealth’s convenience encourages medical practitioners to order more follow-up appointments, tests and prescriptions than they do now. So far, that doesn’t seem to be happening. From its analysis, Regence found that most telehealth visits simply replaced another care setting, and the patient’s health issue was resolved with no supplemental visit needed within seven days for the same ailment in 95% of cases.
For some doctors, the pandemic has been a wakeup call that modern health care needs revamping. “Traditional medicine has let us down,” said Dr. Joseph Pazona, a urologist in Nashville, Tenn. “We need to do radical things to improve.”
The benefits of telehealth
Your Social Security payment amount is determined by how much you earn while working and when you elect to start receiving payments. Married individuals are additionally eligible for spousal and survivor's payments. But there are many strategies you can use to increase how much you will receive in retirement. Here's how to get the highest Social Security payment you qualify for.
Here's how to increase your Social Security payout
Your Social Security payments are calculated using your 35 highest-earning years in the workforce. If you don't work for at least 35 years, zeros are factored into the calculation and reduce your payments. Even a low-earning year is better than having a zero averaged in.
1. Work 35 or more years
The more you earn and pay into Social Security up to the taxable maximum of $137,700 in 2020, the higher your retirement payments will be. Earnings above the taxable maximum are not subject to Social Security taxes or used to calculate your benefit. Working an extra year, even after you retire, could increase your future payments if you now earn more than you did earlier in your career.
2. Earn a higher salary
Social Security monthly benefits are reduced if you start payments before your full retirement age, which is 66 for most baby boomers and 67 for everyone born in 1960 or later. Workers who sign up at age 62 will get 25% smaller monthly payments if their full retirement age is 66 and a 30% benefit reduction if their full retirement age is 67.
3. Don't claim before your Social Security full retirement age
If you delay claiming Social Security past your full retirement age, you will accrue delayed retirement credits that will increase your monthly payments by 8% for each year of delay. After age 70, there is no additional incentive to delay starting your payments.
4. Consider delaying Social Security until age 70
If you took a reduced Social Security benefit, it's not too late to boost your payments. Social Security beneficiaries who are between full retirement age and age 70 can suspend Social Security payments and earn delayed retirement credits. This will increase your benefit by 8% for each year of suspension up until age 70, or as much as 32% if you suspend your payments for four years.
5. Suspend your Social Security payments
If you change your mind within 12 months of signing up for Social Security, you can repay all the money you and your family have received, without interest, and withdraw your Social Security application. You can then apply for Social Security payments again at a later date, and the monthly payments will then be larger due to delayed claiming. However, each beneficiary can only use this option once.
6. Pay back your Social Security benefit
Married individuals are eligible
to claim Social Security payments
worth up to 50% oftheir spouse's
benefit if that amount is higher than
their own payment. To get the full
50%, you need to sign up for Social
Security spousal payments at your full
retirement age, which is 66 for most baby boomers. Spousal payments are reduced if you claim them before your full retirement age. Ex-spouses are also eligible for spousal payments if the marriage lasted at least 10 years.
7. Use a Social Security spousal benefits strategy
When one member of a retired married couple passes away, the surviving spouse can inherit the deceased spouse's Social Security payment if that amount is higher than his or her current monthly payment. Married couples can increase the Social Security benefit the surviving spouse will receive by having the higher earner delay claiming Social Security. A one-time death payment of $255 can also be claimed by a widow or widower if he or she was living with the deceased or receiving Social Security benefits on the deceased's record.
8. Maximize Social Security survivor benefits
The children of a deceased worker
can qualify for payments until they
turn age 18 or 19 while a full-time
high school student. A widow or
widower who is caring for a
dependent child under age 16 or a
disabled child who developed a
disability before age 22 could also
qualify for payments. However, there's
a Social Security family maximum of 150% to 180% of the worker's benefit, and if all qualifying family members exceed this limit, each person's benefit is reduced.
9. Claim Social Security survivor benefits for children
The most effective Social Security claiming strategy for you depends on how long you will live. If you have a major health problem, it can make sense to claim benefits as soon as possible (unless you want to leave a higher benefit to a surviving spouse). If you're healthy and have parents who lived into their 90s, there's a case to be made for delaying claiming your benefit in order to receive a higher Social Security payment in your 70s, 80s and beyond.
10. Estimate your longevity