Last year TSCL joined the fight to end "surprise billing," a practice that generally refers to expensive, unexpected medical bills that patients receive from hospitals and doctors' offices even when they have health insurance that they expect will cover the majority of the costs of treatment..It's clear we need to take action to protect Medicare for future generations and safeguard it against those who want to turn it into a coupon-style voucher system. For over half a century, Medicare has guaranteed older Americans' access to health care, and most seniors don't want to see something so essential endangered or gutted. But here's some good news: There are steps we can take to put Medicare on sure financial footing and build upon it to improve insurance coverage and affordability for older Americans not yet on Medicare..Check community health centers or senior services department. Low - cost dental services may be available to low-income people age 62 and up, but services may be limited and there may be long waiting lists. To learn more, check with your area agency on aging to learn if there are programs near you..There are other reasons why your dad might have received that bill. While Medicare Advantage enrollees would not have to pay cost sharing due to COVID-19, they might if hospitalized due to other reasons, such as heart attack or kidney failure. You may need to call your dad's health plan and find out how the reason for hospitalization is described on the bill..Without legislation to remedy this flaw in the benefit formula, the reduction to the Social Security retirement benefits of these 4 million people would be permanent. Assuming that benefits would be reduced by 9.1%, a calculation for TSCL indicates that a 62 - year old with middle-earnings who retired in 2020 would typically expect a benefit of ,565 at full retirement age, but now would only receive ,423 instead. Over the course of a 25-year retirement, or by the time these individuals reach 87, the total loss of retirement income from expected Social Security benefits would be more than ,000..On Thursday, more than ninety new lawmakers were sworn into office and members of the 113th Congress assembled for the first time. The House of Representatives gained eighty-two new lawmakers forty-seven Democrats and thirty-five Republicans and the Senate gained twelve newly elected lawmakers eight Democrats, three Republicans, and one Independent..When there is no or a very low COLA, a special provision of law known as "hold harmless" protects beneficiaries when the dollar amount of their COLA is lower than the dollar amount of their Part B increase. The Part B premium is adjusted to prevent a reduction in Social Security benefits from one year to the next. "But when this provision occurs on a program-wide basis - as it did in 2016 and 2017, the entire increase in Medicare Part B for the year is shifted to the people who are not protected by hold harmless, Johnson notes. Instead of the Part B increase being spread over all Medicare beneficiaries, the total cost increase is borne by only 30 percent of Medicare beneficiaries who are not protected by the hold harmless provisions. They include:.What numbers are those?."The side effects of the drug, to be sold as Aduhelm by maker Biogen, are troubling and the cost is staggering, at ,000 per year 'forever,' doctors told STAT. More than one-third of trial participants developed brain swelling and 17% to 19% had small bleeds in their brains."
