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Hospitals and other medical providers were forced to stop routine "non-urgent and elective care" earlier this year to preserve scarce personal protective equipment and to avoid the risk of spreading the coronavirus. Once considered a sector of the economy impervious to most economic disruptions, these lost visits have become a financial crisis for many healthcare providers..TSCL's Board of Trustees on Capitol Hill.This week, TSCL announced its support for the Improving Care for Vulnerable Older Citizens through Workforce Advancement Act, which was introduced by Sen. Bob Casey in the Senate, and by Rep. Matt Cartwright in the House. If signed into law, the bill would create six different demonstration projects that would focus on the coordination of care for elderly patients with multiple chronic illnesses. It would put Direct Care Workers such as nursing assistants, home health aides, or personal care aides in advanced roles, and it would test and evaluate different models of care coordination..According to the Center for Disease Control, it has been recognized for many years that people 65 years and older are at high risk of developing serious complications from flu compared with young, healthy adults. This risk is due in part to changes in immune defenses with increasing age. While flu seasons vary in severity, during most seasons, people 65 years and older bear the greatest burden of severe flu disease. In recent years, for example, it is estimated that between 70 percent and 85 percent of seasonal flu-related deaths have occurred in people 65 years and older, and between 50 percent and 70 percent of seasonal flu-related hospitalizations have occurred among people in this age group..Since 2009 the COLA was zero in 2010, 2011, and 2016, and only 0.3 percent in 201Since 2010, the COLA has averaged just 1.2 percent, compared to the prior decade, 2000 through 2009, when the COLA averaged 4 percent..To try to kill the novel coronavirus, some Americans are unsafely using disinfectants and cleaners, including washing food with bleach, using the products on bare skin, and inhaling and ingesting them, federal health officials reported Friday..Whether or not appropriators will successfully negotiate an omnibus spending bill before December 11th remains to be seen. If Congress fails to reach an agreement, the federal government will shut down, and Social Security beneficiaries could see delays in their monthly benefit checks. In addition, doctors who treat Medicare patients and other medical providers could experience delayed reimbursements from the government..It depends. If you meet the requirements you're OK to delay. It's important to keep in mind that failure to enroll in Medicare on time is one of the most costly mistakes that working Medicare-age seniors make. You can wind up getting hit with late enrollment penalties that you'll have to pay every year for the rest of your life. Those penalties could drain thousands in extra Medicare costs from you and your wife's savings and income..Sen. Mark Begich introduced S. 896 on May 8, 201It has since been referred to the Committee on Finance.