News

Last week a group of 10 moderate Democrats delayed a procedural vote for their party's reconciliation bill, which is the expensive bill containing the President's program to rebuild the U.S. infrastructure. The fear is that some of those same moderates may again band together to blunt the drug-pricing provisions going into the reconciliation package.."Medicare, the federal health insurance program that covers Americans over 65, is facing an impossible dilemmShould it cover a new and expensive medication for Alzheimer's disease, which afflicts 6 million Americans and for which there is no existing treatment, even though the drug might not actually work?".That's a common misconception. According to estimates from the Social Security Administration's Chief Actuary, three-quarters of "other-than-legal" immigrants have payroll taxes withheld..Then, in our Oct. 3 Update we reported that the chairmen of the House Ways and Means Oversight and Health subcommittees had sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar requesting more information about the discount card. Among the questions they were asking was what legal authority is being used to justify the program and how it will be paid for..Under current Social Security law, that's all that's required to later claim benefits. To file for benefits, individuals don't need to be citizens, but must have a workauthorized Social Security number. Those receiving work authorization would become vested for benefits with as little as ten years of earnings. The oldest of those who are eligible for the deferred action could feasibly have worked illegally long enough to already be "vested" for Social Security — including disability. This would add to program solvency problems since the Congressional Budget Office and Social Security Trustees have estimated that the Social Security disability trust fund will be fully insolvent by 2016..This week, appropriators in the House and Senate continued making progress on a number of fiscal 2015 bills. Notably, House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers released a plan to trim funding slightly for the contentious Labor-HHS-Education measure, which the Social Security and Medicare programs both fall under. The plan would provide 5.7 billion in funding for the measure, which is approximately billion below the current funding level..Patients would have to sign a consent form acknowledging they've been given written notice with the information and informed that the charges may not accrue toward any plan limitations..If your year has been like mine, you've had a number of Medicare aggravations during which you promised yourself to look into different health and drug plan options at your first opportunity. Medicare's Fall Open Enrollment is underway, and this is your opportunity to compare plans make changes to your coverage..As we've previously reported, the Senate will return for votes starting on September 15 while the House won't be back to begin voting until September 20. Various Congressional committees are back at work this week, however.