News

  • New Study Seniors Lose 31 Of Their Buying Power 2

    Medicare Reform – Protect beneficiaries from changes that would impose greater out-of-pocket costs to beneficiaries. .Medicare Savings Programs cover the cost of the Medicare Part B premium, saving a person 8.50 per month in 202Depending on income, those with the lowest income may also qualify for additional benefits that cover the Part B deductible and out-of-pocket costs. People with incomes in 2020 of up to ,456 per month (individual) or ,960 (married couples) might be eligible if they have limited savings and resources of ,860 (individuals) or ,800 (married couples). These limits are slightly higher for Hawaii and Alaska. This program is administered through state Medicaid programs and states may have guidelines that allow people with slightly higher income to enroll. If interested ,contact your local Medicaid office to apply. .If you have a question about a treatment or test found online, talk to your health care provider or doctor. If you have a question about a medication, call your pharmacist or the FDA. The FDA's Division of Drug Information (DDI) will answer almost any drug question. DDI pharmacists are available by email, [email protected], and by phone, 1-855-543-DRUG (3784) and 301-796-3400. … Continued

  • Time To Pass An Emergency Cola

    This will give them an additional week to try and get something done. If they can't by then, they'll either pass another short-term CR giving them additional time to work until probably Christmas, or they'll give up and go home for Christmas and push everything off to the new Congress and new President in January. .Let's consider what the I.O.U.s held by Social Security represent. The I.O.U.s are bookkeeping entries, a lot like entries in checking accounts, but are not represented by real cash sitting in a strong box anywhere. The U.S Treasury collects Social Security payroll taxes from employers. In turn, the U.S. Treasury issues I.O.U.s to the Social Security trust fund. In the meantime, those payroll taxes are immediately used for other federal budget operations. When more payroll taxes were collected than needed to pay benefits, that reduced the amount of borrowing from the public that was needed for the general revenues, and lowered taxes. Now, however, the situation has reversed, and the Treasury must increase borrowing from the public to redeem the I.O.U.s held by the trust fund in order to pay benefits. Increased borrowing, and the cost of interest on the debt, further drives up our federal spending. According to many economists, that can weaken our economy, and our nation's ability to respond to a crisis. .Housing: (rent of primary residence, owners' equivalent rent, fuel oil, bedroom furniture) … Continued

The plan contained a list of 50 military treatment facilities that would see changes in some way over the next several years in the services they offer. Of those, 37 would stop seeing military family members and retirees altogether. At least 12 states would have more than one treatment facility changed with regard to its mission. .While that may solve one problem in trying to find the most affordable health care, it's not clear it will solve many others that still exist. .Action on Capitol Hill was slow this week as Members of the House returned to their districts for a week-long recess, and most Members of the Senate kept their focus on a transportation bill and a series of judicial nominations. However, on Thursday, four Senators unveiled a drastic plan to phase out Medicare. .The number of observation patients has exploded 88 percent over the past six years, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Medicare has tightened rules for hospital admissions, and usually won't pay for admitted patients who should have been designated as observation status. Consequently, hospitals have increased their share of observation patients. But the rule is not the same for people's private insurance like Medicare Advantage. Most Medicare Advantage plans don't require their enrollees to have a three-day hospital admission in order to receive nursing home coverage, according to an analysis by Avalere Health research firm. .On top of unexpected coverage shortfalls, TSCL's 2017 annual Survey of Senior Costs indicates that homeowners' insurance was the fastest growing housing cost over the past year. In fact, since 2000, the national average homeowners premium rose 154%, a rate of about 9.6% per year! ."Unfortunately for seniors and their families these extreme differences in cost are not unique," says Johnson. "Almost every Medicare beneficiary enrolled in a Part D drug or Medicare health plan can achieve savings if they carefully compare all their options every year and switch when they find better coverage," Johnson says. "All that's required is computer access, the Medicare Drug and Health Plan Compare tools on the Medicare website at www.medicare.gov and determination to give it a try," she notes. .This week, TSCL announced its support for three new bills: the Social Security Safety Dividend Act (H.R. 67), the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act (S. 41, H.R. 242), and the Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act (S. 64). .National Emergency Stockpile to be Increased . I'm helping my mother shop for an assisted living facility. She's considering one within reasonable driving distance, but a clause in the paperwork stipulates that she must agree to mandatory arbitration to settle any disputes. Can you explain the pros and cons of this?