Health Care Reform: What You Should Do to Prepare Now

Now that the health care overhaul is law, when will you start to see a difference? Some    changes kick in immediately, but the rest trickle out over the next few years, with a few  provisions not taking hold until the end of the decade. While you’re probably aware of some  of the bill’s major changes, we’ve sorted through the nitty gritty details to help you start  planning. Here’s a look at some of the key measures that you can — and should — prepare for in the coming months and beyond.

Expanded Coverage for Dependents

What the change is: Kids will now be able to stay on their parents’ health plans until their 26th birthday, unless they’re already covered by their own employer-provided plan (currently, many insurers drop coverage when children reach age 19 or graduate from college). Even if your children are married, they may still be eligible for insurance under your policy if they qualify as your dependents.

When it will take effect: September 23, 2010

What you can do to prepare: If an adult child age 25 or younger has been dropped from your plan, ask your insurer’s benefits manager or your firm’s HR department how to get him or her reinstated. And check to see if your premiums would rise. If so, compare the cost to that of policies sold on the individual market. In most cases, your employer plan will be the better deal and will offer better benefits. Also, if you already have dependent coverage for your spouse or other children, adding another one to your plan may even be free.

Reducing the Medicare ‘Doughnut Hole’

What the change is: Seniors who get their prescription drugs through Medicare Part D will get a $250 rebate if they fall into the costly coverage gap known as the “doughnut hole.” Currently, the gap begins after you’ve spent $2,830 on prescription drugs. You then have to pay the next $3,610 in prescription bills out-of-pocket until coverage kicks in again at $6,440.

Are You Due For A Financial Tuneup?: Here is How To Do Your Own!

Last year, Ron Lieber of the New York Times devoted one entire weekday to tackling activities on his   financial checklist, like signing up for a higher-yield savings account and upgrading a cash-back credit  card. But I am advocating a set in stone one day a week solely dedicated to one financial matters, The Money Day!!

This day, preferably one outside your busy routine would serve to catch up on personal finances, maintenance, research, education, and more.  Mr. Lieber just introduced a new concept called Your Money: A Financial Tuneup, it contains a number of articles with practical advice for putting (and keeping) your financial life in order. (See all the articles here).

In “Take a Few Hours and Unlock Some Cash,” Mr. Lieber explains the basic idea of taking a financial health day, shares what he accomplished during his own financial tuneup this year and offers advice for how you might go about planning your own.

To help with the planning, they’ve created an interactive checklist, “31 Steps to a Financial Tuneup,” with a number of activities to consider. They range from saving another percentage point of your pay and automating your savings to finding a better bank.

You can customize the list based on your own needs and print it out as a guide for your own financial tuneup. The tool also includes video tips as well as a calculator showing how saving one more percentage point can impact your savings.

Other articles in the section cover topics including how to self-diagnose your financial health, why it’s important to review legal documents about your estate, new high-tech ways to track your spending to the penny, how a line-by-line scrutiny of your last tax return can help you formulate a better personal finance strategy and why you might want to switch banks.

For those who have lost jobs, homes, and saw their dreams turn into nightmares will never look at all things financial the same way again. And for the rest of us, the recession, Wall Street greed and vanishing investment portfolios have but awaken/created financial wizards.

So there is not better time than now to create a Money Day as boring as it sounds. The peace of mind, the knowledge and control of one personal financial matters are crucial to one overall well-being. Would’t you agree?