State Indicator Number Of Issuers Participating In The Individual Health Insurance MarketplaceAuxiliary beneficiaries who lack SSNs heighten the risk of improper payments and fraud. The OIG said that the Social Security Administration sometimes has trouble making timely terminations of benefit payments when the beneficiary without his or her own Social Security number dies. Making accurate payments, however, is complicated by the fact that 83% of auxiliary beneficiaries without an SSN identified in the OIG's audit reside outside the United States. In addition, more than 5,000 of the auxiliary beneficiaries are age 90 or older. In fact, the OIG audit uncovered three cases in which the Social Security Administration continued to improperly pay benefits long after the beneficiary had died..Here is a big part of the answer. An analysis by Stat News of campaign finance records shows that the pharmaceutical industry donated to more than two-thirds of Congress as well as 2,467 state lawmakers during the last campaign cycle -- to the tune of over million..It turned out that Flo was working for the deep pocketed pharmaceutical industry. They successfully used her ad to sink major legislation proposed by President Bill Clinton to add a voluntary drug benefit to Medicare. It wasn't until 2003 that the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act, which added the Part D drug benefit to Medicare, was finally signed into law by President George W. Bush. But, although the bill provided a drug benefit, it specifically prohibited Medicare from negotiating prices with drug manufacturers, even though Medicare negotiates prices for almost every other service and for Part B drugs. High drug prices put patient's lives at risk every day when people can't afford to fill their prescriptions. … Continued
Health Reform Perspective The Health System Appears To Be Selling Lgbt People ShortBerna Heyman, a retired librarian who has Wilson Disease testified how she was a victim of obscene price gouging. Her annual co-pay for the drug Syprine rose from 0 in 2013 to ,000 in 2014, with her drug plan paying over 0,000. When she and her doctor applied for Valeant pharmaceutical's patient assistance program, she was denied financial assistance from the manufacturer because she was on Medicare..SSA Announces 2018 COLA.CDI investigates disability claims that State disability examiners believe are suspicious. The program's primary mission is to obtain evidence that can resolve questions of fraud before benefits are ever paid. These investigative units also provide reports to examiners during continuing disability reviews that can be used to end benefits of people who are ineligible for benefits and gaming the system. Let's tell Congress to say NO to Social Security disability insurance cuts - and ask lawmakers to strengthen our successful anti-fraud prevention programs. … Continued
