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Joyce Heap was in end stage Alzheimer's disease, and living at a nursing home run by an Armenian couple, when her daughter Denise spotted suspicious charges on forms from her mother's Medicare drug plan. Denise Heap went online to find out what the drugs were, and she discovered her mother was supposedly receiving medications for conditions she didn't have, like breast cancer, asthma, and emphysema. Heap was convinced that someone used her mother's identity to bill Medicare for more than ,000 worth of medications in just three months..Then they must raise the debt ceiling so the government can borrow more money to pay its bills..There are important trade-offs to Medicare Advantage. Enrollees must use the network of hospitals and doctors who contract with the plan. In recent years as enrollment grows, more plan enrollees have been hit with surprise bills for out of network providers - often for thousands of dollars. While traditional Medicare is accepted by any willing doctor in every state, Medicare Advantage coverage tends to be accepted only in a specific geographic area. There are also more requirements for prior approval for certain procedures..Unless there is a breakthrough regarding a new coronavirus bill, the House is scheduled to return to business on Sept. 1That will leave 2 ½ weeks in September for it to pass the two remaining funding bills but that will probably depend on how negotiations for a new coronavirus bill as well as a CR go once they return..consider policies from companies that sell long-term insurance plans in.Practice using the tool: Have your Medicare number, information about your current coverage, and a complete list of prescription drugs, including dosages and the number you need per month at hand. The Plan Finder will ask you to provide information including your zip code, current Medicare coverage, the drugs you take, the pharmacies you plan to use, and whether you want to see just Part D stand alone plans or Medicare Advantage plans or both. For meaningful results accurately enter all your prescriptions. When complete get your Drug List ID number, print it out and save it. You don't want to enter it again every time you revisit the Plan Finder and invariably you will..He said it is still possible that legislation regarding those issues could be passed, but not very likely. He said he was afraid they would be caught up in the elections and be used as campaign issues rather than being seriously considered for passage. That means that if any action is taken it will probably not be until later in November or even December, depending on how late in the year Congress works..The White House budget released earlier this year proposes to establish an out-of-pocket limit to the Part D benefit by phasing down beneficiary co-insurance in the catastrophic coverage phase of the benefit from 5 percent to no-cost sharing over four years, beginning in 201While this is better than nothing, the proposals make other changes shifting significant costs to Part D plans which would likely be passed on to consumers in higher premium costs and higher drug costs for the sickest people who hit the pre-catastrophic Part D gap. One analyst has estimated those costs would average ,000. In addition, there is no proposal at all that would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices..Redfield said the agency would continue to try and push the message that people should wear marks: "We're going to continue to try to figure out how to get more and more people to embrace it."