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Re-opening is expected to be slow and painstaking as providers and states try different approaches to keep patients and staff safe. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently released a bulletin about what patients should know about seeking healthcare during the pandemic, which can be found online at:..Please Be Careful When Using Disinfectants and Cleaners.You may possibly qualify for a divorced spouse Social Security survivor's benefit that would be the same as what a widow would get, but you have a number of options that you need to carefully think through. If you receive survivors benefits as a divorced spouse now, you can switch to your own retirement benefit later if it is higher than your widow's benefit.."It's about time," states Johnson. At the time of passage of the Affordable Care Act, this tax was widely referred to as a "Medicare" tax in the media, by tax and investment professionals, and, many lawmakers sold it to the public that way. "Now those revenues are needed by the Medicare Part A Hospital Insurance Trust Fund," says Johnson. Part A is three years from insolvency and faces an estimated funding gap of more than 5 billion over the next ten years..Why did Dad get a bill for ,944 after his recent hospitalization due to COVID-19? I thought emergency legislation required coronavirus care to be covered by Medicare. Dad is enrolled in a large Medicare Advantage plan..Wilson Disease can cause organ or cognitive failure. Because no equivalent for Syprine exists, Heyman was forced to try an alternative treatment, Galzin, which costs her about 0 per year. Heyman said the change was made only under duress, because it does not remove the fatal build - up of copper in her system - just absorbs it - and the long - term consequences of the switch are still unknown..CMS Administrator Seema Verma also said that CMS is working to guarantee a free vaccine for Medicaid and private insurance members as well..Your own retirement benefit would be low if you were to take it at age 64 - prior to reaching your full retirement age. Full retirement age at which you start receiving full, unreduced benefits, is rising. For people born in 1956 your full retirement age is 66 and 4 months..For more information about town hall meetings near you during this week's holiday recess, call the local offices of your Members of Congress. For contact information, click HERE.

Policy Watch Mental Illness May Soon Be Most Common Pre Existing Conditions

House leaders and a bipartisan group of 40 senators recently sent a letters to President Obama, and Medicare's Administrator, Marilyn Tavenner, expressing serious concerns about the impact of Obamacare cuts. "These cuts, in addition to proposed rules issued by CMS, will force millions of American seniors to face higher health care costs or lose access to their doctor, health plan, lifesaving drugs, and the benefits they've come to rely on," House leaders wrote. The Senate letter stated, "We urge you to maintain payment levels that will allow MA beneficiaries to be protected from disruptive changes in 2015.".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..According to a report in Bloomberg Government News, "Centrist Democrats in the House are pushing to shrink their party's health-care wish list to focus more on low-income Americans, a move backed by industry groups including dentists who say a narrower focus is better policy. … Continued

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The CBO estimated last November that if lawmakers wished to raise the amount of covered earnings subject to the payroll tax to 90 percent of covered earnings, then the taxable maximum would need to be set at 6,400 in 2017 and to rise to 5,000 by 202"Legislation was introduced in December that would impose deep benefit cuts," Johnson notes, "but had no provisions to provide new revenues. " "Lifting the taxable maximum cap would provide new revenues to Social Security and it could also provide a modest boost to Social Security benefits, and more adequate COLAs to all people when they retire," Johnson points out. "Our lawmakers should not be allowed to hide this option under the rug," she says. "Raising the payroll taxable maximum is the means of providing greater retirement security and long - term program solvency, " Johnson says. "We can save Social Security without the deep cuts.".Following the vote, Congressman Phil Roe the bill's sponsor said: "After practicing medicine for more than 30 years, I can tell you that no two patients are the same; that different approaches are required for different needs. IPAB is blind to this fact and will ration seniors' access to care through one-size-fits-all payment policies. We can do better, and it's time to go back to the drawing board.".I turn 65 next year, and have very good healthcare coverage through my husband's employer. I need Humira for rheumatoid arthritis. The drug retails for more than ,250 a dose, which I require monthly. My husband's plan normally has a co-pay of 0 for Humira, but through a special arrangement I'm required to pay only $Do I have to give up this coverage when I sign up for Medicare? … Continued