Private Insurance State Indicator Market Share And Enrollment Of Largest Three Insurers Individual MarketInstead of the sweeping legislation supported by the House Democratic leadership they have indicated supported for more modest measures that already have some Republican support. Those include things like capping Medicare enrollees' out-of-pocket drug costs..Increase the payroll taxable maximum to cover all earnings. Currently high - income workers pay no Social Security taxes on earnings over 8,500. That means someone earning 0,000 stopped paying Social Security taxes at the end of March while middle and low - income earners continue to pay Social Security taxes on all their earnings, all year long. This one change alone would bolster both the disability and retirement program for decades to come..When the Social Security Administration receives wage reports from employers with Social Security numbers and names that don't match those on file, the reports go into an Earnings Suspense File until they can be reconciled with the rightful owner -- which can occur years later when an application for benefits is received. Over the past ten years for which data is available the Social Security Administration has received, on average, more than 9.5 million suspicious wage reports annually representing more than billion per year in wages. "And it's the wages that are used to determine benefits, not the amount of taxes paid in," Hyland notes. … Continued
Policy Watch Is Contact Tracing Getting Enough Attention In Us Coronavirus ResponseThat's changing this year due to new Medicare rules that require suppliers to engage in competitive bidding to supply seniors with this equipment. A two-year pilot of competitive bidding in nine cities succeeded in lowering Medicare's durable medical equipment costs by a third. Lower costs for Medicare should also mean lower co-pays for seniors..Highlights of this week in Congress include: fallout from the Super Committee's indecision; leadership changes at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and a new co-sponsor added to a key bill..In addition, the legislation froze the income thresholds at which the higher premiums are triggered so more seniors will have to pay the higher premiums as incomes gradually grow over time. TSCL's Legislative Assistant, Mike Watson, estimates that "individual seniors who made between ,000 and ,000 in 2010 could be subjected to the 'means test' in 2019, because of the frozen income thresholds. In addition, if the income thresholds for the 'means test' were allowed to increase, they would rise to about 0,500 to 1,800 in 2019." … Continued