India Breaks Covid Daily Record For The 3rd Day In A Row How The Spike Could Impact The UsIn fact, unlike the surtax on high earners, this 3.8% net investment tax was not even a specific provision of Affordable Care Act. It was a provision of a separate bill, the Health Care Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010 which was passed about two days after the Affordable Care Act. By setting up the revenues so that they would flow to the General Fund, Congress by-passed earmarking those revenues for the Medicare Part A or Part B Trust Fund. That also means that, when those revenues are used for other purposes, the Medicare Trust Funds are not earning any interest from the federal government for the use of those funds..Tell us what you think! It's time for the TSCL's 2019 Senior Survey. This is your opportunity to let us know what you think about major proposals affecting your benefits. Tell us how rising costs are affecting you. The answers to these questions help us inform journalists, the public, and Members of Congress on how older Americans are faring in retirement today. Your participation is helping to change the national dialogue on the adequacy of Social Security benefits, and throwing a spotlight on the growing problem of the ability of COLAs to maintain the buying power of your benefits..There is real concern that many people who are treated for the coronavirus could end up with surprise medical bills. Because of that Democrats want to make health-care services free to people who contract the new coronavirus. If treatment were free, those with the virus wouldn't have to fear surprise medical bills. That would, of course, still leave unsolved the issue of surprise billing for other types of treatments. … Continued
Blog Legislative SummitIn an ideal world, prior authorization is supposed to deter patients from receiving care that is not truly medically necessary, thus reducing costs for insurers and out-of-pocket costs of enrollees. But prior authorization is sometimes misused to create barriers to getting care, or to even deny medically necessary care. Regardless of how prior authorization is used, it creates extra administrative hassles for physicians when they have to file the documentation to obtain the authorization..This week, Members of Congress continued working on a .1 trillion spending bill to fund the federal government past December 11th. Lawmakers in the Senate passed a five-day continuing resolution on Thursday afternoon to buy more time for the negotiations. At the time of writing this week's update, those in the House had not yet passed the stopgap funding bill, but they are expected to overwhelmingly vote in its favor before midnight on December 11th, and President Obama has already said he will sign the short-term fix into law..To even meet the statutory test of disability, the disabled worker must be unable to work or engage in any "substantial gainful activity." To qualify, disabled workers must have worked in the past, and be unable to work because of a medical condition that is expected to last more than one year or result in death. … Continued
