News

New Part D plan drug pricing programs may lower costs for those who seek out the savings. Recent Congressional scrutiny on drug pricing may be spurring some drug plans to drop prices. One of the biggest cost-savings found is a new drug plan pricing program that lowers the cost of insulin. In the 2018, the lowest cost Part D plan charged an copay for a 100/ML of Lantus Solostar. In 2019, a different plan had lowest cost copays charging as little as .00 - .00 for Lantus Solostar, in the Cigna-HealthSpring Rx Secure - Extra Part D plan. The highest cost plan, which does not cover Lantus, charges the full price, 3.18 per 100/ML..serious or whether it's just a "natural part of growing older," which in any.The low COLA announcement from the trustees comes just weeks after TSCL revealed the findings of its 2016 Survey of Senior Costs. The annual survey examined the cost increases of thirty-eight key items between 2000 and 2016, and it found that Social Security benefits have lost 23 percent of their purchasing power since 2000. During that sixteen-year period, the COLA rose by 36.3 percentage points, while typical senior expenses like housing, Medicare premiums, and prescription drugs jumped 75.3 percent. The findings of the survey are a clear sign that the COLA is growing too slowly, and that it's time to switch to a more accurate measure of inflation like the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers..High-income beneficiaries who pay an income-related surcharge in addition to the basic premium..I've received numerous automated phone calls offering "free" Medicare-covered items like back braces and diabetes supplies. I'm not 65, not eligible for Medicare yet and I'm on the national DO NOT CALL list. Are suppliers allowed to do this?.The coronavirus caused approximately 375,000 deaths and was the third leading cause of death in 2020, after heart disease and cancer. Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. now top 550,000 since the start of the pandemic..In a rare holiday session, Members of the House and Senate voted to pass the American Taxpayer Relief Act in order to avert the Fiscal Cliff. With votes of 89-8 in the Senate and 257-167 in the House, the bill was approved in the first hours of the New Year, and it was signed into law by the President on Wednesday. The measure permanently extends the Bush-era tax rates for individuals making less than 0,000 and couples making less than 0,000, and it allows rates to increase for those making more. The law also temporarily prevents a 27 percent pay cut for physicians who treat Medicare patients, and it includes a two-month postponement of the automatic spending cuts that were scheduled to take effect on January 1st..Berna Heyman, a retired librarian who has Wilson Disease testified how she was a victim of obscene price gouging. Her annual co-pay for the drug Syprine rose from 0 in 2013 to ,000 in 2014, with her drug plan paying over 0,000. When she and her doctor applied for Valeant pharmaceutical's patient assistance program, she was denied financial assistance from the manufacturer because she was on Medicare..According to TSCL's 2017 Senior Survey, 8% of survey respondents said that their benefits have been withheld by Social Security due to excess earnings. Unless you have a terminal illness and are not expected to live very long, we strongly recommend that you consider delaying the start of your Social Security benefit until you are 66 or older when you will be eligible for the full, unreduced amount. To get the maximum, consider working until age 70 if you can. Your benefit will grow by 8% per year if you do.