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Berna Heyman, a retired librarian who has Wilson Disease testified how she was a victim of obscene price gouging. Her annual co-pay for the drug Syprine rose from 0 in 2013 to ,000 in 2014, with her drug plan paying over 0,000. When she and her doctor applied for Valeant pharmaceutical's patient assistance program, she was denied financial assistance from the manufacturer because she was on Medicare..These price increases are very likely to block some patients from affording their medication, following instructions for taking the drugs, result in higher costs for treatment in the future because of not taking the prescriptions as directed, and cause higher incidents of additional health issues and death rates..Medicare remains a target of budget cuts in Washington as political leaders and other policy makers consider potential changes to the program. How much do you know about Medicare, the people it serves, the benefits it covers, and its financial status?.partnership programs available in several states..However, waiting until your full retirement age qualifies you to receive 100% of the amount your ex-spouse received when he died. The amount you receive is based on your ex-spouse's basic benefit and depends on the age at which you file a claim. If you file for a survivor's benefit prior to your full retirement age, the amount of the survivors benefit you receive would be reduced, but your own retirement benefit would be delayed and continue to grow to its maximum until you reach age 70. You could switch if it is higher than your survivors benefits..What is TSCL?.This week, one new cosponsor Rep. Corrine Brown signed on to the Social Security 2100 Act. The total is now up to sixty-four. If signed into law, H.R. 1391 would increase Social Security benefits by 2 percent, cut taxes for over 11 million seniors, increase the minimum benefit to 125 percent of the poverty line, and make COLAs more fair and accurate. It would also take measures to increase the solvency of the trust fund beyond the next seventy-five years, through the year 2100..early 60s. If you wait much longer, you may not pass the required physical and.To offset the increased spending, the proposal calls for approximately 0 billion in health care savings, with most coming from within the Medicare program. Under the President's plan, more beneficiaries would be subject to means testing and they would see higher premiums for Parts B and D. In addition, new beneficiaries would need to pay a copayment on home health care services, and they would also be faced with a surcharge on premiums for Medigap plans.

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"Like health care legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, Social Security and Medicare reform proposals could become the center of a nasty political tug-of-war," Johnson says. TSCL works to protect retirement security and to promote better adequacy of both Social Security and Medicare benefits. To learn more, visit..The plan would affect both current and future Medicare beneficiaries by carving Medicare into two systems. People who already receive Medicare would continue under the current system. People who turn 65 by 2021 would receive a voucher to purchase private insurance..A new bill was introduced in the Senate this week that would lower costs for Americans with diabetes and other chronic diseases who have high-deductible health plans. This legislation would not affect seniors who are covered by Medicare, but it could be very helpful for seniors who are under 65 and still working and who only have high-deductible health insurance. Authored by Sens. John Thune and Tom Carper, the bill, called the Chronic Disease Management Act, would lower health care costs by allowing high-deductible health plans to provide chronic disease prevention services - including insulin for diabetes - to plan enrollees before they reach their plan deductible. … Continued

About State Legislatures Legislative Oversight Of Executive Orders

Because it means new legislation to reduce the costs of prescription drugs is not likely to be passed this year and will have to await the start of the next Congress in January of 202In addition, as we've explained in the last couple of updates, the executive announcements the President issued regarding prescription drugs are not clear about what drugs they cover and even if things get clarified it is highly unlikely seniors will see a reduction in drug prices this year. And, of course, the major drug companies are strongly opposed to orders and are fighting to change them..Here are three things you can start doing right now to lower your Medicare costs.The idea is to cut government spending on Medicare by limiting the annual growth of the Medicare voucher to the growth of the gross domestic product plus one percentage point. However, for the last 40 years national healthcare spending has exceeded the growth of the gross domestic product by more than two percentage points, and TSCL is highly concerned that the vouchers would rapidly become increasingly inadequate to purchase sufficient coverage or that seniors would face significantly higher premiums. In addition, the CBO recently wrote that the average age and cost of enrollees remaining in the current system would increase over time, and TSCL believes that would lead to far higher premiums for older beneficiaries as well. … Continued