News

The blueprint also calls for billion in Social Security cuts, and it would fully repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with the House-passed American Health Care Act. That change would leave millions of older Americans not yet eligible for Medicare without health insurance coverage due to high costs. It would also impact around 11 million Medicare beneficiaries who are also enrolled in the Medicaid program many of whom are patients in costly nursing home facilities..If signed into law, S. 2023 would take a number of steps to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, including requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate Part D drug prices, allowing the re-importation of drugs from Canada, closing the "doughnut hole" three years earlier than current law, and prohibiting "pay-for-delay" deals between drug manufacturers..The difference in drug prices between the two programs is due to two reasons. Under Medicare Part D, the government isn't negotiating drug costs on behalf of beneficiaries, and Part D has no cap on out-of-pocket spending for prescription drugs. The lack of a cap acts as a perverse incentive for drug makers and drug plans to get beneficiaries to use the most expensive drugs, because Medicare reimburses drug plans 80% of the cost in the final catastrophic phase of coverage. The higher the cost of the drug, the more drug plans receive from Medicare. Medicare patients who rely on such medications could owe thousands of dollars out-of-pocket every year for a single drug, even when their Part D plan covers the drug..Does the "anchoring" effect cause people to retire too soon?.National mail order contract suppliers can't charge you more than any unmet deductible and 20 percent coinsurance. To find a contract supplier for your area, call, or visit /supplierdirectory. The online tool will allow you to select the type of supplies you need and provides a complete list of mail order suppliers and their phone numbers serving your area..Nearly, 1.5 million people are affected by the WEP, which reduces the earned Social Security benefits of an individual who also receives a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security. For example, a teacher who spends his or her summers working a second job or a police officer who leaves the force after years of service but is not quite ready to retire can see their benefits reduced by as much as 40 percent. However, a similar worker with a private sector pension would not see this kind of reduction. We are punishing public sector employees such as our teachers, firefighters, and police officers..House leaders and a bipartisan group of 40 senators recently sent a letters to President Obama, and Medicare's Administrator, Marilyn Tavenner, expressing serious concerns about the impact of Obamacare cuts. "These cuts, in addition to proposed rules issued by CMS, will force millions of American seniors to face higher health care costs or lose access to their doctor, health plan, lifesaving drugs, and the benefits they've come to rely on," House leaders wrote. The Senate letter stated, "We urge you to maintain payment levels that will allow MA beneficiaries to be protected from disruptive changes in 2015.".Inflation, as measured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' consumer price index, has taken a deep tumble over the past year, meaning older Americans will have to settle for a cost-of-living adjustment of 1.6% in 2020 after getting a 2.8% increase this year..The practice I'm talking about is known as a "Pay For Delay". It occurs when brand-name drug manufacturers sue manufacturers of generic drugs and then pay them large sums of money specifically to keep their cheaper generic drugs off the market and unavailable to consumers, including our seniors. These settlements can make generic medications unavailable for years into the future years during which those brand-name drug manufacturers can continue making huge profits with no competition.