Thrive is puberty starting earlier

In fact, according to research by The Senior Citizens League, homeowner's insurance has grown 199 percent since 2000, making it one of the fastest growing costs that retirees face, second only to prescription drug costs. Joe reports that his homeowners and car insurance have increased every renewal period over the past two years. His homeowner's premiums rose from ,284 a year to ,566, an increase of 22 percent. Joe's auto insurance premiums increased 0 over the last four renewal periods, which are every six months, despite no tickets or accidents. Government subsidized FEMA flood insurance this year increased 7.4%..TSCL Calls Seniors To Action.On Tuesday, with a vote of 244-154, lawmakers in the Housed approved legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act's controversial Medicare cost-cutting board..After passing The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act late last month, Congressional leaders quickly began selecting conferees to be named on the payroll tax conference committee. The bi-partisan panel will negotiate details beyond the 60-day payroll tax holiday extension and "doc fix" that will expire March 1st..Improve work incentives and encourage disabled beneficiaries who improve to return to work. Current disability rules restrict what disabled beneficiaries can earn, which serves as a disincentive to those who are capable of re-entering the workforce. TSCL favors adopting rules that are consistent with those of the retirement and survivors program, which allows people to earn ,310 per month before benefits are reduced.."Senior Advocates: Small Social Security Bump May be Sign of Future Bad News".TSCL delivered letters to Congress this week urging lawmakers in the House and Senate to become cosponsors of the bill, and to sign it into law before the end of this year. For progress updates on the CPI-E Act, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website or follow TSCL on Twitter..Investing in an advanced aide role for DWCs will not only lead to less institutionalization and fewer re-hospitalizations, but will improve quality of life for seniors and reduce costs, reducing the overall burden on the health care industry. Seniors deserve to stay in their homes as they age, enjoy a high quality of life, all while receiving high quality, cost-effective care. The Advanced Aide Act will ensure that this is attainable..In making the 1977 changes, Congress, wanting to avoid an abrupt change, allowed persons born from 1917 through 1921 to use a special transitional benefit formula or the new 1977 formula, whichever would yield the higher of the two benefits. The transition benefit formula never delivered the promised benefit protection, however, because it did not yield a higher benefit amount. Instead, the new benefit formula most often yielded the higher amount.

Services Orthopedic Care
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the House GOP's American Health Care Act that passed in the House cuts federal spending on Medicaid by 4 billion over ten years, a funding cut of 25%. The Senate's health care bill would cut Medicaid even more deeply, by using a more slowly-growing inflation index to adjust reimbursements to states..Are benefit cuts inevitable when Social Security's financing runs low in a few years? Your participation in this November's presidential election will play a critical role in how this question will be answered..This week, the Social Security and Medicare Trustees released their annual reports on the financial standing of the two programs. In addition, the Supreme Court announced its decision on the immigration orders President Obama released back in 2014. … Continued

Dual Eligible Beneficiaries
"The bottom line is that Medicare Part B premiums rise several times faster than COLAs, and those premiums are now high enough to cause the net Social Security benefits of millions of people to remain flat for years at a time," Johnson says. "We are at the point where this is affecting far more people than anyone ever anticipated, and it's a red flag that Medicare premiums are increasing too fast, while Social Security benefits are not adequately keeping pace," she explains..For seniors - many of whom are on fixed incomes - these skyrocketing prices are unsustainable. Astronomical drug prices are forcing seniors to make daily choices between the medication they need to stay healthy and other necessities such as food, transportation, and housing costs. This is unacceptable..Rep. Schwartz's bill, if signed into law, would repeal the sustainable growth rate formula for physician reimbursements, and it would set up a five-year trial period during which CMS would test and evaluate new payment models. TSCL believes that the SGR breeds uncertainty in the Medicare program for both physicians and beneficiaries. Many doctors have stopped accepting Medicare patients because of the SGR, and even more are threatening to do so if a permanent solution is not established soon. We believe Congress should repeal and replace the SGR by the end of this year in order to preserve seniors' access to quality medical care. … Continued