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Californians propose major changes to Medicare
A whopping 97 percent of the 800 Californians who participated in a statewide project on how to improve Medicare want to reduce coverage for extensive treatment at the end of life. A majority do, however, want comfort care and hospice…
4 Ways to Fix Our Retirement System
Boomers have expressed a strong desire to remain engaged in the market economy. They still want to make a difference. They’re a creative force for change. What could the government do to make it practical and desirable for more people…
SubscriberWise Proposes Child Identity Theft Protection Legislation
SubscriberWise®, the leading provider of analytics driven subscriber decision management technology and the nation’s first and largest issuing consumer reporting agency for the communications industry, announced today that the company is pleading with Congress to introduce a legislative initiative that…
A Simple but Critical Fix Is Needed Now for the Nation’s Disability System
September 11, 2014 Social Security Disability Insurance, which provides basic but essential protection from income loss due to life-changing disability or illness for more than nine in 10 American workers and their families, is one of the cornerstones of our…
Medicare’s observation status is a financial black hole for families
A FEW months after my mother’s 95th birthday, she fell in her Bellevue home and hit her head, requiring stitches and blood transfusions. She has not been the same since. She had to celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary with her husband,…
Curb your enthusiasm about those Medicare savings
Contrary to some media reports, the Medicare monster hasn’t been tamed. But it has been made a little less unruly. To be precise: Spending is regularly falling below projections, creating the prospect of hundreds of billions of savings over decades.…
CMS delays dialysis center five-star rating system
The federal government will wait until January to roll out its five-star rating system meant to help consumers compare quality at dialysis centers and is reevaluating the timeline for extending it to hospitals and home care providers. Use of the…
State senator says Minnesota must prepare for ‘age wave’; Eken proposes extending Social Security tax on high earners
Minnesotans are getting older, and the cost of caring for seniors and the disabled is going to rise fast. The state needs to act now to get ahead of the coming “age wave” by providing a stable funding source to pay…
Reform Update: Using expansion dollars for health plans may be costly, GAO says
Allowing states to use federal Medicaid expansion dollars to buy low-income adults private health plans on the federal insurance exchange may cost the federal government significantly more than if those states simply expanded their traditional Medicaid programs, the Government Accountability Office reported (PDF). The GAO said…
Citizens Choice, A Medicare Advantage Health Plan, Purchased By Alignment Healthcare USA
Alignment Healthcare, an emerging health care services company based inOrange County, California, has purchased Citizens Choice Health Plan, a California Medicare Advantage plan which has been in business since 2006. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The purchase has been…