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  • Legislation For Coverage Of Hearing Aids Under The Medicare Recently Introduced In Congress

    According to an article in The Hill, a Washington, D.C., newspaper that covers legislative matters in Congress, it just might happen. .Senate Committee Discusses SGR Alternatives .According to Medicare, no single organization was behind the 35 people charged in the genetic testing scam, which included 9 doctors. All of this comes at a time when Medicare and Medicare Advantage are expanding the use of telemedicine, which allows doctors and nurses to connect with patients over the internet or by cell phone for consultations and to check symptoms remotely. … Continued

  • 70 Retirees Didnt Know Expect Lifetime Social Security Income Claimed Benefits

    According to Mr. Brune, SSA is making several organizational and technology-driven improvements that will lead to an increase in fraud detection. The administration is currently expanding its successful Cooperative Disability Investigations (CDI) program, which prevents benefit payments from being made in cases where fraud is detected. The CDI program is operating in thirty-three states this year, and it is expected to expand to the remaining seventeen states by 202Mr. Brune said, "Chairman Johnson and this Subcommittee have long championed this CDI program, and we thank you for that support." ."Many of the most-expensive medications are the biologic treatments that we often see advertised on television," Mulcahy said. .The legislative proposal also does not specify whether the locality pay adjustment would be applied in addition to the COLA or used instead of a COLA. If the intention is to add a second adjustment in addition to the COLA my guess is that many retirees would welcome the additional boost. Should the proposal be intended to replace the COLA that brings a higher level of uncertainty to the annual adjustments than we already experience. For people who live in areas where private sector pay is on an even level with federal pay or lower, those retirees may wind up with little or no locality pay adjustment, perhaps over the course of many years. … Continued

Key Bills Gain Support in Congress .This legislation will also create "Social Security Administration Senior Centers" as pilot projects in 10 SSA field offices that will work to streamline the application and delivery processes of federal, state and local programs that serve low-income elderly or disabled individuals. .How Should Congress Strengthen Social Security and Medicare? .Also this week, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) expressed optimism that he will gain support for the bill to lower prescription drug prices that he and Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have written. Grassley's remarks came in the light of President Trump's State of the Union speech where he thanked Grassley for his work on the drug price issue and urged Congress to get a bill passed and sent to him. .The new RAND report is based on 2018 data and compares U.S. drug prices to those in other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. .Your responses to our annual Senior Surveys are a key means to helping us convince Congress to move forward on key issues. Please take our 2021 Senior Survey. .Social Security beneficiaries received a 2% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) this year, but most have seen their benefit increases completely offset by higher Medicare Part B premiums. Do you support legislation that would give older Americans a more fair and adequate Social Security COLA? .Clauses requiring mandatory arbitration have become exceedingly common in many types of contracts, but they can have serious implications for unsuspecting consumers. By signing such agreements, consumers give up their Seventh Amendment right to a trial by jury or their right to bring civil suit in court against the company no matter what the grievance. This can even include sexual abuse, medication errors, and negligence. .(Washington, DC) – Older Americans overwhelmingly support legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, according to a new survey by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). The online survey, which had over 1,234 participants, found that 88 percent support tying prescription drug prices to what other industrialized countries, such as Great Britain, Canada and Japan, pay for the same drug.