This is not a sustainable spending pattern for retired and disabled households. In recent years, Social Security recipients more typically reported that housing and medical expenses, not food, increased the fastest and were the two top cost concerns..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..TSCL's concern is not over taxes collected under valid Social Security numbers. The concern is over the use of earnings under invalid or fraudulent Social Security numbers to determine benefits. Earnings reported under invalid numbers most often occur when noncitizens work without legal authorization. Due to a loophole in current law, Social Security uses all earnings to determine benefits, even those from jobs worked under invalid and fraudulent Social Security numbers. Social Security thus pays benefits for the rest of the individual's life that may be based, at least in part, on work under fraudulent Social Security numbers. TSCL believes this policy rewards people for document fraud..If a therapist or home health agency says that Medicare does not cover a service any longer, that's a red flag because Medicare hasn't changed benefits, or the qualifications to receive benefits, but only the payment structure. To be eligible for Medicare home health benefits you must meet all of the following conditions:.The inequities don't stop at the different eligibility rules. The new Medicaid benefits aren't available in every state. In 25 states and Washington D.C., Medicaid will for the first time be open to anyone younger than age 65 whose income is no more than 133% of the federal poverty level, ,856 a year. But people living in one of the twenty-five states that have decided not to expand their Medicaid programs will be left out. Younger seniors in those states aren't receiving the same benefit opportunities because the Supreme Court ruled that Obamacare could not compel states to expand their Medicaid programs..Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, it was my understanding that the 3.8% tax on net investment income was intended to fund the Medicare Part A Trust Fund, in much the same way a portion of the taxes on Social Security benefits are earmarked for the Part A Trust Fund..them completed about 30 days BEFORE the annual fall Medicare Part D Open.TSCL has been fighting to stop a payroll tax cut for months because of the damage it would do to the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. Last week we contacted both Senate and House leadership in both parties to reinforce our opposition..According to a recent nation-wide survey conducted by The Senior Citizens League, almost one-third of older taxpayers, 30 percent, say they itemize deductions for healthcare costs, and about 56 percent say that a portion of their Social Security benefits are taxable. "Taxpayers who may be postponing needed medical or dental services, getting glasses, or filling expensive prescriptions may want to consider doing so before the end of the year, in order to maximum the medical expense deduction in 2018," Johnson says.
