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Can You Explain the Pros and Cons of Switching to a Medicare Advantage Plan?.And overwhelming majority 95% of those polled said YES! Amnesty by Executive Order is presidential over-reach. Changes in immigration law should be left up to Congress..chances are we may have a chronic health condition that requires regular.The .5 billion for VA health care improvements will now be paid for with savings elsewhere in the budget. However, one Democratic aide said the funds used to pay for the program were gimmicks that do not harm spending in vital programs..On Thursday, more than ninety new lawmakers were sworn into office and members of the 113th Congress assembled for the first time. The House of Representatives gained eighty-two new lawmakers forty-seven Democrats and thirty-five Republicans and the Senate gained twelve newly elected lawmakers eight Democrats, three Republicans, and one Independent..If you are in for observation, Medicare considers you an outpatient, and your services are covered under Medicare Part B. Generally, this means you will have a co-payment for each individual outpatient service. In some cases, your total copayments for all services may even be more than the inpatient hospital deductible. In addition, most of the prescription drugs you get in an outpatient setting aren't covered by Part B and you would need to check with your drug plan to find out whether the drugs would be covered..Burwell will begin her work as HHS Secretary in the coming days, and TSCL will keep a close eye on her work since it could have major impacts on the Social Security and Medicare programs. TSCL is pleased that Burwell has already committed to working with Congress to repeal and replace the flawed sustainable growth rate formula later this year. However, she has also expressed her support for increased means testing within the Medicare program a proposal that TSCL is opposed to due to potential unintended consequences. For updates on HHS actions affecting senior citizens, visit the Legislative News section of our website..Take a Survey.Action from Congress is needed to address Social Security's looming shortfall. Without it, the Social Security Trust Fund is estimated to run short by 203Should that occur, benefits would be reduced by about 22% to match the level of payroll taxes coming in.

Health Costs Issue Brief Data Note Americans Challenges Health Care Costs
The decision can be abrupt and arbitrary. A home health worker tells you, "Your husband isn't getting any better, we've done all we can do, and now we can't continue services, because Medicare isn't going to pay for it.".One of the key issues discussed was the growing concern surrounding the possibility of the Totalization Agreement between the United States and Mexico being signed by the President. If this happens, Congress would have a limited amount of time to actually review the Agreement. If Congress decides not to take any action, the Agreement would automatically go into effect..Depression-era tradition, take a roomer. If you live alone, consider taking a … Continued

Thrive Creating Healthy Relationship Boundaries
Yet in deficit reduction negotiations over the past two years, both President Obama and Congressional budget negotiators proposed cutting the growth in annual cost–of–living adjustments and several Medicare measures that would increase beneficiaries' out-of-pocket costs, like higher deductibles, and new co-pays, over the same time. "Making beneficiaries pay more for their Medicare, with less income, simply isn't feasible for a large percentage of today's older Americans," says Cates. "TSCL believes that Congressional candidates could face pushback from concerned senior voters in upcoming elections," he adds..The disparity between growth in the COLA and Medigap premiums is likely to be worse in 2020. "Inflation is lower this year, and we are estimating that the COLA is likely to be around 1.7 percent," Johnson says. "Nevertheless, we anticipate that Medigap premiums will continue to grow several times faster for a number of reasons," Johnson adds..TSCL enthusiastically supports H.R. 1030, H.R. 1795, and H.R. 1179, and we were pleased to see support grow for each one this week. … Continued