News
-
Category Issues Cola Articles Page 14
Such logic would be disastrous if it were applied to a successful COVID vaccine. COVID-19 has shut down countless businesses, creating record-high unemployment. And the medical consequences of severe COVID-19 mean weeks of highly expensive intensive care. .House Leaders Propose ACA Replacement .Sources: Making Work Pay Credit Was Implemented As Intended, But Resulted in Many Taxpayers Owing Taxes With Returns," Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration, November 1, 2010, Ref. No. 2011-41-002. … Continued
-
Legislative Update Week Ending February 10 2017
The government negotiates prescription drug prices for veterans and Medicaid beneficiaries, but it is barred from negotiating lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries. As a result, seniors enrolled in Part D often pay much higher prices than others for their prescription drugs. What are you doing to correct this unfair policy? .The information you do get can seem contradictory. The one piece of advice almost all retirement advisors do agree on is this — starting Social Security at 62 is a bad idea unless you are terminally ill with only a few more years to live. Your benefits will be permanently reduced up to 30% depending on your full retirement age, and if you are working, your benefits could be reduced due to earnings restriction rules. .This week, President Obama delivered his State of the Union Address, and talks to repeal and replace the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for doctors who treat Medicare patients seemed to have stalled. … Continued
League believes that tax reform is an opportunity to bring greater equity to the funding going into Social Security and to ensure that everyone pays fairly. .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. .While the Social Security Trustees project that the program will remain solvent until 2033 and that the Medicare Trust Fund will be solvent until 2024, both programs are currently paying out more than received in cash revenues. Because the federal budget is in deficit, the government is borrowing the money to pay benefits. The cost of interest payments is increasing as a portion of the federal budget. The question is how long can the government continue to borrow the money. .Usually, your doctor's order is necessary. Before you need emergency care, put a plan into place, including someone to help take care of you should you become seriously ill. Often, doctors will order observation care when you are too sick to safely go home from the emergency room. Although this can still occur even with the best-laid plan, you may be able to reduce the length of an observation stay if you have someone who will take care of you once you are released. If you learn that your patient status was changed after your admission as an inpatient you have a right to appeal decisions about healthcare payment, coverage of services and prescription drug coverage. .Last Friday the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer, Inc., urged President Biden to form a bipartisan coalition in Washington to address high drug costs. .However, leaders in the House postponed the vote and the discussion grew complicated after President Obama made a last-minute request to include funding for the training of Syrian rebels in the CR. "This is substantive policy change … Of course I would rather pass a clean, simple CR," said Rep. Mike Rogers (MI-8), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, following the President's request. .When Should Single People Move to Assisted Living? .This week, lawmakers in the Senate held confirmation hearings to question Congressman Tom Price (GA-6) and Congressman Mick Mulvaney (SC-5), who have been nominated by President Donald Trump to fill important positions in the administration. .A Humana Medicare Advantage plan in Florida improperly collected nearly 0 million in payments in 2015 by overstating how sick some of its enrollees were. A new audit by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is seeking to get the money back. If successful, the audit penalty would be what has been described as "by far the largest" ever imposed on a Medicare Advantage company. But Humana has sharply disputed the OIG's findings, and has said that the recommendations "do not represent final determinations, and Humana will have the right to appeal."
