Headlines
OK to Limit Medicare Provider Choices, but Don’t Cut Benefits
Mindful of the possible political consequences, as a rule, elected officials avoid making difficult decisions about Medicare, so one group of researchers decided to grant participants in a series of focus groups that authority to see what they would decide. The…
Modernize Disability Benefits So People With Disabilities Can Work
So much of our society has changed over the past 60 years. We have made tremendous progress in technology, medicine, education — and in the recognition that all people must be treated equally. Why is it, then, that we continue…
It happens: Seniors with student debt – and smaller Social Security checks
It’s a rude awakening for a growing number of seniors: They file for Social Security, then discover that the federal government plans to take part of their benefit to pay off delinquent student loans, tax bills, child support or alimony. This…
Protecting Medicare Part D From Government Intervention
It’s no secret that President Obama’s healthcare law continues to struggle despite the administration touting eight million sign-ups and 13 million people getting coverage during the first enrollment season. The administration is still struggling to get millennials to sign-up – the…
What Social Security Will Look Like When You Retire
Social security isn’t going away, but what it will look like when you retire will depend on your age. Talk abounds that the social security coffers would be empty for people who are in their thirties or forties, but many financial…
Why Social Security Is Not a Ponzi Scheme
When Social Security’s trustees issued their recent report on the financial health of the program, they said the trust funds that support Social Security were on track to run out of money by 2033. Absent a change in the law, when those trust…
Medicare experiment rewards better health care at a lower cost
David Krueger regularly saw the waste and inefficiency in the health care system while working as an emergency physician. It might be as simple as patients who came to an emergency department because they could not get in to see their…
Disability Awareness Can Get People Jobs
The secret is out about a not so well-known federal program from the Social Security Administration called the Ticket to Work. It is a program that helps Social Security recipients, who receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and/or Supplemental Security…
Leaders demand details on HealthCare.gov security problems
Republican committee leaders in the Senate and House called on the Obama administration on Wednesday to provide details on the security of HealthCare.gov after a report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found systemic security weaknesses in the website, many because of…
New Anthem network makes business case for HMO-ACO hybrid
Anthem Blue Cross Vivity, the newly announced joint venture among WellPoint subsidiary Anthem and seven prominent Southern California providers, will blend both the past and future as its planned HMO-like structure also looks to implement elements found in today’s accountable care organizations. Vivity will…