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One option recently recommended by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission would repeal the SGR and encourage physicians to join two-sided risk accountable care organizations. Doctors participating in ACOs voluntarily group with hospitals and other providers to lower costs and better coordinate care. Pilot ACOs that are currently operating only see rewards for delivering high-quality, low-cost care. Those in two-sided risk ACOs, however, would also be penalized for providing low-quality, high-cost care. According to MedPAC, substantial savings would result, but many are still skeptical about the potential of ACOs..Annual limits on out-of-pocket costs: Unlike Medigap supplements, MA plans have annual out-of-pocket limits, which can vary and rise annually. In 2016 the maximum annual out-of-pocket that plans can charge is ,700, so your costs would need to be that much before catastrophic coverage begins. On the other hand, the limit protects you in years when you have very high out-of-pocket costs. Medigap plans may have lifetime limits that you could potentially exceed as you get older and sicker..Get the Seasonal Flu Vaccine but Not Just Yet.Representative Dan Lipinski introduced H.R. 2787 on May 16, 201It has since been referred to the Committee on Education and Labor..Two provisions of law, known as the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset unfairly reduce, or even completely eliminate, the Social Security benefits of millions of Americans who have devoted their careers to public service, in addition to having worked other jobs that withheld payroll taxes for Social Security..Get an annual check up. Case in point: I recently helped a.You can use the Social Security Administration's earnings test calculator to see how earnings could affect your benefit payments..What numbers are those?.Based on consumer price index data through May of this year, TSCL's Social Security policy analyst and study author, Mary Johnson, estimates that the COLA for 2018 may indeed be significantly higher than in recent years - around 1.9% - 2.1% - but that could change since there are still several months to go before the COLA is announced in October.

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Call Congress.Last week, most seemed doubtful that Members of Congress would successfully reach an agreement before the looming deadline due to demands from some lawmakers to attach hundreds of controversial policy riders to the package. However, this week, many are reporting that appropriators have narrowed down the list of policy riders to a more manageable number, and leaders in Congress seem surprisingly optimistic about the prospects of the massive omnibus..At the hearing the top Republican on the committee, Steve Womack of Arkansas and other Republican lawmakers said that Congress will need to limit the growth of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which they referred to as "major mandatory programs." … Continued

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In addition, TSCL announced its support for legislation from Rep. Grace Meng that would address the Social Security Notch once and for all. It would allow Notch victims born between the years 1917 and 1926 to choose between a ,000 lump sum payment or an improved monthly benefit calculation. TSCL firmly believes that Congress must provide some compensation to victims of the Notch injustice, and we are hopeful that Congresswoman Meng's bill will be approved by the end of this year..Under current law the Social Security COLA is calculated based on the spending patterns of younger working adults using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. But older consumers spend a bigger portion of their household budgets on healthcare and housing, two categories that have been increasing more rapidly in recent years. "Medicare Part B premiums are the fastest growing cost most retirees will ever have," notes Johnson. "But those costs are not even surveyed under the CPI-W or reflected in today's COLA," she says..The proposal would potentially help those enrolled in Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plans, particularly in cases where a drug is not covered by the individual's plan or, as a less-expensive alternative, when the cost of importing a drug is lower than the co-pay for purchasing the medication with Part D plan coverage. Proponents of importation point out that, over the long-term, increased competition from imported drugs could pressure drug companies to reduce their prices in the U.S. and thus help reduce costs for other drugs you may take. … Continued