Report Section Rising Cases In Long Term Care Facilities Are Cause For Concern TableTo learn more about your benefits and retirement, sign-up for TSCL's free online newsletter, The Social Security & Medicare Advisor..Any Toll Free call to Congress on the number will be paid for by The Senior Citizens League..A recent report by the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services has also found that high price drugs are affecting federal spending on drugs and increasing federal payments for Medicare Part D catastrophic coverage. Once people hit the catastrophic level of Part D coverage, beneficiaries pay a 5% coinsurance for drugs while the Federal Government pays the vast majority of the remaining costs. But there is no limit. The Inspector General's report said that federal payments for catastrophic coverage in 2015 exceeded .2 billion in 2015, which is more than triple the amount paid in 20Incredibly, only ten high-priced drugs accounted for nearly one-third of all drug spending in catastrophic coverage in 2015. … Continued
Prevent Movember Moustaches For A CauseBut according to a report in Politco last week, "… the administration's Medicare team has put together a revised plan - which was circulated inside the administration on Tuesday, with instructions to expedite approval - to start sending letters to 39 million beneficiaries within the next week, touting the drug-discount cards. The cards would then arrive across December and January, according to four officials with knowledge of the plan.".Many believe that the public stage has politicized the debate and is preventing the group from reaching a breakthrough. With only one week to go before the Presidents Day recess, the next meetings will likely move behind closed doors..Burwell was expected to cruise through the confirmation process after she received an overwhelming display of bipartisan support during two Senate hearings that were held in May. However, a group of lawmakers set out to stall her confirmation's movement in the weeks leading up to the vote by submitting several complex inquiries about her perception of the ACA. In addition, almost every minute of the allotted debate time was used to discuss the ACA's implementation thus far, while Burwell received almost no criticism at all during the thirty hours. … Continued