News

According to an article in Statnews.com, "It is looking increasingly like the U.S. may not experience a flu season this year. To date, fewer than 1,600 people in the entire country have tested positive for influenza since the 2020-2021 flu monitoring period began last October; of those, 32 were recorded in the week ending Feb. 2Most flu seasons, somewhere between 100 and 200 children die from flu; so far this season there has been a single pediatric flu death. Experts believe mask wearing, social distancing, and enhanced hand hygiene practices adopted for Covid-19 control are contributing to the low numbers of circulating flu viruses.".Addressing the Part A shortfall will be particularly difficult and contentious for everyone. To bring greater solvency to the HI trust fund, lawmakers will be faced with the politically unpalatable choices of reducing Medicare spending, which could include requiring that Medicare recipients pay more for their coverage and increasing the tax revenues received by Medicare. Congress last addressed Medicare Part A finances in the 2010 Affordable Care Act which, among other things, required hospitals to become more efficient in their delivery of care, while requiring that higher income workers pay a higher Medicare payroll tax rate..This, of course, keeps the costs of those drugs much higher than if a generic version were available..This week, the House Budget Committee advanced a budget resolution that would reform the Medicare program, and the Senate Aging Committee met to discuss the trajectory of Alzheimer's disease. In addition, three key bills gained support in Congress..Which costs are rising fastest for you? Take TSCL's annual Senior Survey, visit..Meanwhile, Republicans argued that Medicare should not be expanded when its hospital fund is already slated to be insolvent in 2026..Since its inception, Medicare has undergone a number of changes. Since 1972 the program has covered disabled persons under 6In the last 25 years, beneficiaries were given the option to obtain services through private managed care arrangements. And most recently, the passage of the Affordable Care Act strengthened Medicare by closing the prescription "donut hole" and expanding preventative services with no deductible or co-pay..On Wednesday, with a vote of 21-3, the Senate Finance Committee voted in favor of advancing the nomination of Sylvia Mathews Burwell as the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. If confirmed as Secretary, Burwell will oversee the Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security programs, and she will also manage the continued implementation of the Affordable Care Act..Second, one new cosponsor Representative Sean Patrick Maloney signed on to the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act, bringing the total up to twenty. This bill, if adopted, would reduce prescription drug prices for older Americans by requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower covered Medicare Part D drug prices on behalf of beneficiaries.

Meetings Training Webinars Overview

Costofliving adjustments are falling to anemic lows again in 201Seniors and the disabled will learn the 2013 increase on October 16, 2012, but TSCL expects the increase will be about 1.1%. That would raise the average monthly benefit .80 from ,126 to ,141.80 hardly enough to offset big expected spikes in food costs which are rising twice as fast. The rapid increase in home heating fuels and prescription drug costs also outstrips the COLA as well..Ask whether you are an inpatient or outpatient: If admitted to a hospital, it's highly important that you, or your designated caregiver find out immediately whether you are being admitted to the hospital as an inpatient or an outpatient. Even if you are admitted as an inpatient, the hospital can switch you to observation status, but the hospital is required to notify you..The GPO reduces the Social Security benefit received by spouses and surviving spouses who also collect a government pension. Nine out of 10 public employees affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal benefit, even when their spouse paid Social Security taxes for many years. According to the Congressional Research Service, in 2018 approximately 6.6 million state and local government workers were in non- Social Security covered jobs. About 83% of all affected by the GPO are women. … Continued

Health Reform Poll Finding Kff Health Tracking Poll March 2019 View Footnotes

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the House GOP's American Health Care Act that passed in the House cuts federal spending on Medicaid by 4 billion over ten years, a funding cut of 25%. The Senate's health care bill would cut Medicaid even more deeply, by using a more slowly-growing inflation index to adjust reimbursements to states..The Bipartisan Policy Center points out in a recent blog, that each of these sources of revenues is negatively impacted by high unemployment. When people are out of work, no payroll taxes are withheld from earnings. A portion of Social Security benefits is taxable when a Social Security recipient has an income higher than ,000 or ,000 for a couple filing jointly. But the coronavirus recession has impacted both earnings from jobs and the value of retirement accounts, so that fewer retirees will meet the income thresholds that make their benefits taxable this year. Finally, the Federal Reserve has responded to the recession by cutting interest rates, which means that the yields on the bonds held by the Social Security Trust Funds are smaller and will provide lower interest income. A recession also causes a higher number of new claims when older workers are forced to retire earlier than planned, raising costs in the short term..Year after year, physicians who treat Medicare patients are threatened with scheduled pay cuts that Members of Congress consistently override. While doctors, patients, and lawmakers have grown accustomed to the "doc fix," the ritual has grown unpleasant for all involved. Doctors are fed up with the looming pay cuts, patients are losing access to their trusted physicians, and lawmakers are tired of the political sparring that occurs each time a pay patch is needed. … Continued