As was noted in last week's update, the AHCA would reform the current health system and negatively impact older Americans in several ways. It would restructure the Medicaid program, which funds nursing home care for many qualified Medicare beneficiaries. It would base premium subsidies on age instead of income, while allowing private health insurers to charge older Americans five times more than they charge younger folks for their coverage. And it would deplete Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund by eliminating two revenue sources that the ACA created, creating a funding crisis for the program..Also last week, House Democrats unveiled a range of health care measures to be included in their coming .5 trillion package, including provisions to lower prescription drug prices and expand Medicaid in the 12 GOP-led states that have refused to do so. The measure unveiled by the House Energy and Commerce Committee includes legislation to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower drug prices, known as H.R. 3.."We are mobilizing our grassroots efforts to fight COLA cuts and contact Members of Congress," Hyland says. To learn more, or to take a poll, visit. For more ideas about saving on Medicare costs and stretching retirement income, request a free issue of TSCL's "The Best Ways To Save" newsletter. Send for postage and handling to: The Senior Citizens League, ATTN: BWTS, 1001 N. Fairfax St., #101, Alexandria, VA 22314..High Dose Flu Vaccine.The survey found that a person having the national average Social Security benefit in 2000 - 6 per month - would have ,169.80 per month by 2016 due to COLA increases. However, because retiree costs are rising at a substantially faster pace than the COLA, that individual would require a Social Security benefit of ,517.80 per month in 2017 just to maintain his or her 2000 level of buying power..Refinance and renovate. If you find your current mortgage payment is too high, refinancing to get either a lower monthly payment or to take cash out may be an option. Before you refinance, have a long–term repayment plan, a budget, and you may want to discuss your needs with an independent financial advisor. If you are refinancing to renovate an older home, think long and hard about how much longer you plan to stay in your home, and how well your current housing will serve you as your health changes. Get bids from contractors, and be sure to include costs for new appliances, carpets, and fixtures. Will you have sufficient income and savings to cover a mortgage payment and still have money for repairs and maintenance ten or twenty years from now? Can you recover your renovation investment if you have to move and sell sooner than you planned? Take time to shop and carefully compare terms on loans - don't be hurried into making a decision. Loan officers always push you to "lock in a rate." Always ask for a "good faith" estimate and an estimate of the closing costs..TSCL polls indicate that a wide majority of older Americans are opposed to this policy. TSCL strongly supports legislation that would ban the use of earnings under invalid and fraudulent Social Security numbers from being used to determine benefits..Senate Committee Questions HHS Nominee.Thankfully, those covered under Medicare are not as susceptible to this, although it can still happen, even when it comes to such things as dental care. Hoyer said it's "possible" the House could act on surprise billing legislation before May although he didn't definitely commit to it.

Care What You Should Know About Your Aging Parents

Drug and Health Plan Finders at : The only way to be sure you're getting unbiased information is to use the drug and health plan finders on the Medicare website, not from a dot com or even a dot org website, because most others receive income from ads, selling health plans or prescription drugs. Using the Drug and Health Plan Finders you can get an overview of the Part D and Medicare Advantage options in your area and estimated costs based on the prescriptions you take. Click on the Drug and Health Plan Finder link on the homepage and you will be taken to a page that will ask you a series of questions to get started. There's a Medicare Plan Finder online tutorial video to help show you what to do..Key Social Security Bills Gain Support in House.Hang up the phone or shut the door if you encounter any of the following: … Continued

New Guidelines Reduce Amount Of Liquor Men Can Drink Safely

Illegal immigrants get jobs using counterfeit, invalid, and stolen Social Security numbers that employers use to withhold payroll taxes and report earnings to the Social Security Administration. Immigration advocates argue that unauthorized workers have little chance of collecting benefits. But once illegal workers gain a valid Social Security that changes. Social Security Administration policy allows noncitizens who have evidence of earnings, even for jobs worked under invalid Social Security numbers, to claim and reinstate those earnings for use in determining entitlement once they obtain their own Social Security number. The earnings are then used to determine the initial retirement benefit amount..According to the Federal Register "Amounts collected under section 1411 are not designated for the Medicare Trust Fund." The Joint Committee on Taxation in 2011 stated that's because "No provision is made for the transfer of the tax imposed by this provision from the General Fund of the United States Treasury to any Trust Fund."."Anyone would have to acknowledge that a lot of what has gone on with the pharmaceutical industry as it relates to their contacts with doctors is lobbying, pure and simple," McCaskill said in the hearing. "If we are going to limit the lunches that can be bought for members of Congress in the context of lobbying, shouldn't we have the same kind of disclosures with doctors? And if it is in fact about the patients, the industry should have no problem disclosing how much money they are spending on doctors in terms of recreational time. I'm talking about golf, I'm talking about trips, I'm talking about dinners, I'm talking about expensive wine. Why in the world would we allow that to go on without the public and the patients knowing that's going on?" … Continued

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