This year, for the sixth straight year, the Trustees issued a "Medicare funding warning." Marilyn Tavenner, CMS Administrator, stated: "While Medicare is stable for now, we have a lot of work ahead of us to guarantee its future." Expenditures by the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund have exceeded income since 2008 and are expected to do so for the foreseeable future. The Trust Fund is expected to cover only 87 percent of costs in 2024 and 67 percent of projected costs in 2050..One thing we know for certain about the greatest generation, it is that they don't scare easily. Not economic depression, Nazi Germany, Japan, or world war could frighten my father's generation. It is with that same resolve and faith in the rightness of your cause that seniors should not give in to the fear-mongering coming out of Washington D.C..The president exercised special powers of the White House - instructions called "executive action" - that can have the binding force of law but do not require Congressional approval. While presidents in the past have exercised executive powers to make immigration changes, the sweeping scale of President Obama's actions far surpassed that of presidents before him. The actions come after Congress reached an impasse on passing immigration reform legislation last year..The executive order directs the Department of Health and Human Services to develop proposals that would expand plan options, encourage innovation in plan designs and payment models, and improve the enrollment process to make it easier to choose plans. It includes a variety of proposals that include combating waste, fraud and abuse in the program, and improving access to new treatments and medical devices..You have a face-to-face meeting with a doctor within 90 days before starting home healthcare, or 30 days after the first day you receive care..Under a restricted application, however, you could take just one or the other of the two benefits at 66, and then allow the other benefit to grow at 8% per year, until age 70. For example, depending on how much your own retirement benefit would be, you might file a restricted application for your own retirement benefit, and then let your larger spouse benefit grow to the maximum, switching to it at age 70. Or, if by allowing your own retirement benefit to grow would yield a higher benefit, you could instead file a restricted application for just the ex- spouse benefit at 66, and then switch to your own higher benefit at age 70. You will need professional help to make this determination. The extra money you receive using this strategy accumulates over a typical retirement, and can mean a significantly higher benefit when you are older and need it the most..To learn more and to participate in TSCL surveys and polls, visit..CMS has also partnered with the Department of Justice to help to increase law enforcement efforts for Medicare fraud and abuse. In 2009, the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team was established to provide a law enforcement arm to the government's effort to stem the tide of Medicare fraud and abuse perpetrators. The special task force combines authorities from local, state, and the Department of Justice and Health and Human Services agencies to increase communication and shared investigative techniques..Let's say that you work for an employer with more than 20 employees. Then you and your wife may delay enrollment in Medicare, if you continue to work, and as long as you're still covered by the group health plan. If your employment or coverage ends, however, then you and your wife have 8 months to enroll in Medicare. COBRA and retiree health plans don't count as coverage based on current employment.

Eleanor Hsu

According to the Social Security Administration, beneficiaries will receive a 1.7% COLA starting in January of next year. The low COLA comes close on the heels of two years when no COLA was paid, in 2010 and 201The COLA in 2012 was 3.6%. "The anemic growth in benefits will cause tens of millions of seniors to spend a bigger portion of their monthly Social Security payment on healthcare and other costs next year," says TSCL Chairman Larry Hyland..Since 2000, Social Security benefits have lost 23 percent of their purchasing power due to inaccurate inflation adjustments based on the CPI-W. This year, for instance, seniors would be receiving a 2.1 percent Social Security benefit increase if the COLA were based on the CPI-E. Instead, they are receiving a 0.3 percent COLA that is offset completely by increased Medicare Part B premiums..Can You Live On Social Security Alone? … Continued

Patient Education For Dads And Partners Your Baby How You Can Help With Formula Feeding

In September of last year Sen. Joni Ernst talked about the need to go "behind closed doors" to reform Social Security, presumably because the American public won't stand for it being done in the open. There was more a year earlier from Majority Leader McConnell when he labeled Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid - so-called entitlements - "the real drivers of the debt" and called for them to be adjusted "to the demographics of the future.".The largest percentage of those surveyed in TSCL's 2017 Senior Survey - 37 percent - reported that their household expenses rose by more than 9 per month in 2016, yet the annual cost of living adjustment increased benefits by only 0.3 percent, about .00- .00 per month for someone with average benefits. Few beneficiaries actually saw an increase in benefits at all, however, because rising Medicare Part B premiums took the entire COLA. "This flat growth in Social Security forces tens of millions of retirees and their families to spend more out of savings every year, go into debt, or look to Medicaid and other safety net programs to make ends meet," Johnson says..Long-term care insurance, however, has its shortcomings. It's … Continued

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