Medicaid Issue Brief Approved Changes In Indianas Section 1115 Medicaid Waiver ExtensionDr. Redfield also told Congress this week that the CDC is developing a test that can check for seasonal influenza and COVID-19 infections at the same time..Agreeing on methods of payment has proven to be the most difficult task. One conferee, Sen. Jon Kyl stated this week: "The way our Democratic colleagues have been approaching offsets, there's just not much of anything that they seem willing to agree to, so I'm pretty pessimistic that we can get that done.".The Health Subcommittee focused on three specific Medicare proposals that President Obama included in his fiscal 2014 budget: establishing a home health copay, increasing the annual Part B deductible, and increasing means-testing measures for Parts B and D. Most Subcommittee Members, along with the expert panel, expressed their disapproval of all three options, stating that they would simply shift costs to seniors instead of targeting the root of the problem. Instead, many suggested that they focus on reforming the delivery system to better reward quality medical care. … Continued
Policy Watch Extreme Heat Racial Health EquityFor progress updates or for more information about these and other bills that would strengthen Social Security and Medicare programs, visit the our website at, follow TSCL on Twitter or Facebook..The rationale for both the WEP and the GPO - that the Social Security benefit formula is overly generous to these individuals and that they are reaping unintended benefits - is very hard to justify today. In fact, Social Security benefits are quite modest when compared to the national pension systems of other developed nations. The modified benefit formulas used under each of these two provisions substantially reduces the benefit that workers were counting on, but these are benefits that were earned and paid for by Social Security taxes..The Social Security Administration announced today that the 2020 COLA will be just 1.6 percent, continuing the worrisome trend in which COLAs have averaged just 1.4 percent from 2000 to 20"Adequate COLAs are critical to retirement security," says Mary Johnson, a Social Security policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. "Social Security is one of the only types of retirement income that provides this essential protection against rising costs. "When a retiree's costs rise faster than their COLA, the buying power of Social Security benefits erodes, leaving people with a benefit that doesn't go as far as it did when they first retired," Johnson notes. According to research by Johnson, Social Security benefits have lost 33 percent of buying power since 2000. … Continued