News

  • Medicares Home Health Care Benefits Become Harder To Get

    Sources: "Advocates Head To Court To Overturn Medicare Rules For Observation Care," Susan Jaffee, Kaiser Health News and USA Today, May 3, 2013. .The real danger of traveling isn't the flight itself. However, going through security and waiting at the gate for your plane to dock are both likely to put you in close contact with people and increase your chances of contracting the virus. In addition, boarding — when the plane's ventilation system is not running and people are unable to stay distanced from one another — is one of the riskiest parts of the travel process. "Minimizing this time period is important to reduce exposure," wrote Corsi. "Get to your seat with your mask on and sit down as quickly as possible." .The new study takes a closer look at the Social Security "hold harmless" provision. Typically, Social Security benefits tend to grow slightly each year as COLAs compound over time. But when the Medicare premium increases more than an individual's COLA that can trigger this special provision of law. Hold harmless protects Social Security benefits when the dollar amount of an individual's annual COLA increase is not sufficient to cover the increase in the Medicare Part B premium increase. If the increase in Medicare Part B premium would cause an individual's net Social Security benefit to be less than it was the year before, then the Part B premium is reduced to ensure the individual's Social Security benefit does not decline. … Continued

  • January 2013 The Human Resources Social Network

    "Whatever the reason, most Americans before they retire have paid little attention to the huge life transition that is coming. We don't have a good idea of how much we need to save for retirement," writes Mark Miller, journalist and author who writes about trends in retirement and aging. Mark, the author of The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security: Practical Strategies for Money, Work and Living (John Wiley & Sons/Bloomberg Press, 2010) shares a few important tips with our readers. .While employment plunged at the height of the recession in 2009, new data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) suggests that millions of illegal immigrant workers hung onto their jobs. Employers sent in 7.7 million wage reports of workers whose names and Social Security numbers (SSN) don't match those on the SSA's files for 200The "mismatched" wage reports are frequently caused when the SSA receives copies of W2s for illegals who work under stolen, false or invalid SSNs. Although employment among illegal workers appears to have declined in 2009, the number of such "mismatched" wage reports that the SSA received from 2000 - 2009 averaged 9.5 million per year. .The Three Biggest Expenses to Cut In Retirement — Most seniors spend more time clipping coupons to save a few dollars when they do their weekly grocery shopping than they ever spend cutting these three biggies. Spend more time on these and you'll have more money for groceries and everything else. … Continued

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (TX-8) said in a statement on Tuesday evening: "We are pleased with the progress we are making and we remain on schedule to take action and approve a bill at our Committee beginning next week." Ranking Member Richard Neal (MA-1), however, urged Republicans on the Committee to slow down. In a letter to Chairman Brady, he said: "I write to urge you in the strongest possible terms to slow this tax reform process to a pace that will allow for reasonable, informed deliberation." .Despite all the tragedy and difficulty coming out of the pandemic emergency there is a little good news, in our opinion. The spread of the coronavirus has reignited the push in Congress to expand domestic manufacturing of drugs, and renewed concerns the U.S. relies too much on foreign medicine makers. As we have been seeing, the need for medications can be urgent during a pandemic and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have raised alarms about possible shortages. .First, four new cosponsors – Representative Darren Soto (FL-9), Representative Grace Napolitano (CA-32), Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), and Representative Grace Meng (NY-6) – signed on to the Nursing Home CARE Act (H.R. 4704), bringing the total up to nineteen. If adopted, the bill would protect Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries by more quickly codifying emergency preparedness rules for nursing home facilities that receive funding from the federal government. .Five Bills Gain Support .This policy benefits immigrants who have broken U.S. immigration and employment laws and have worked using a stolen or fraudulent Social Security number. In addition, this policy flaw raises questions as to whether Social Security eligibility acts as an incentive for more illegal immigration in the future. .Lawmakers compromised on the policy parameters of a long-term solution more than a year ago, but since then, they have been unable to come up with an offset to cover the cost of the 4 billion package. This week, Rep. Tom Price (GA-6), Chairman of the House Budget Committee, said, "We spend .6 trillion a year in this town – to come up with a pay-for ought to be relatively easy. There are things we have used before. There are areas in federal pensions … and rescission money that's available out there. We ought to be able to find some resources to pay for this patch." .Affordable Care Act – Monitor the continued implementation of the law as it affects older Americans. .Although not many studies exist, according to one study of average earners born from 1917 through 1926, the disparity in benefits with other retirees seems to average about 26%. ."Super Congress" Holds First Hearing