Report Section Preventive Service Tracker Pregnancy RelatedSocial Security disability benefits are financed through the taxes paid by workers and their employers on earnings up to a cap of 7,000. Of the 6.2% that each pays, 0.9% goes to Disability Insurance and the rest goes to pay retirement and survivors benefits..Currently the program pays out more in benefits than it receives in cash revenues. The interest on money owed to the Social Security Trust Funds, however, is helping to fund the benefits of today's retirees. But because the government must borrow the amount of money needed to repay funds borrowed from Social Security in the past, that drives up federal spending. Some Members of Congress are saying that benefits must be reduced, or that higher revenues are needed, to reduce the deficit..Accelerate or postpone discretionary medical expenses when feasible. The new health law reduced the amount of unreimbursed medical expenses that you can claim when itemizing the deductions. Taxpayers under the age of 65 can claim deductions for expenses that exceed 10 percent of their adjusted gross income. If you are age 65 and older you may still deduct total medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross temporarily but that ends in 201If your expenses are right on the borderline, you may want to take care of any pending medical services and appointments now, so you can boost your deduction for 201If your expenses were too low to claim the medical expense deduction for 2014, consider postponing discretionary services a few weeks into the New Year. … Continued
Mercy Hospital Services Heart And Vascular Center Services And Procedures Cardiovascular SurgeryMy brand name drug is supposed to go generic this year. Will my drug plan cover the generic and if so will I be notified?.Better access to quality, cheaper generic prescription drugs will provide real relief for many seniors and their families. With building bipartisan support, I'm very hopeful we can push this important reform through Congress..Under growing pressure to reduce the federal deficit, the prospect of major Social Security and Medicare cuts is the greatest it's been in almost three decades. The recent debt limit deal calls for a bipartisan committee that has until Thanksgiving to come up with a plan to cut the deficit by .2 trillion. TSCL believes that the committee would very likely include a change to a more slowly growing consumer price index that would cut annual-cost-of-living adjustments. There are also proposals that would require seniors to pay a bigger portion of their Medicare costs. … Continued