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Several Influential doctors groups openly promoting denial of treatment based on age, disability, and other critieria
In “Treatment Cost Could Influence Doctors’ Advice,” the New York Times’s Andrew Pollack reports that several major physician groups are poised to begin openly considering cost when seeking to deny life-saving treatment—and that some of them are explicitly calling for…
Medicare’s $5 Billion Ambulance Tab Signals Area of Abuse
The patient smoked cigarettes in the passenger seat of the ambulance every week, chatting with the driver while taxpayers foot the $1,000 bill to drive him four blocks for his dialysis treatment. The routine was part of a $1.5 million scheme…
Retirement costs at heart of food service contract decision
Carlisle Area School District is expecting to turn a $500,000 annual operating deficit into a $200,000 surplus in the first year of its contract with Chartwells. The school board recently agreed to outsource the management of the district food service operation…
How demographics affect Medicare costs
Let me put my biases on the table. First, I like the Medicare program as currently structured and am delighted at any news that costs are growing more slowly. Second, changes were needed to the health-care system to get costs…
Retirement Money Tips for 30-Year-Olds
If you have not already begun saving, begin saving now! Adhere to the adage: Pay yourself first! Moreover, every time you get a salary increase, have some of that increase go toward more savings until you have maxed out your…
Retirement ain’t what it used to be
The need to develop a retirement plan probably isn’t a revelation to most folks working in the 21st century. Can you afford to retire? Retirement facts by the numbers: Where do Ontario seniors live and…How can federal government help…The age-old dilemma: saving and…Most…
Add Your Voice: Changes Proposed to Social Security Disability Rules for Parkinson’s
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has issued a proposed rule to revise current regulations used to evaluate whether people with Parkinson’s and other neurological disorders qualify for Social Security disability insurance (SSDI), marking the first broad-scale overhaul of the criteria since 1985.…
15 Facts about Social Security
It’s easy to take Social Security for granted when retirement is years away, but with 94% of the U.S. workforce covered by Social Security, it’s likely that this program will play a role in your financial future, perhaps even sooner…
My Mom and the Lady Next Door
I think it’s time to once again share the story of my mom and the lady who lived in the big house directly behind our modest home. I’ve told this tale before in my column, but it bears repeating. And…
Bipartisan Fix To Retirement Crisis In 2015?
A comfy retirement for all! Talk about an ambitious goal. The Bipartisan Policy Commission today launched a year-long project, the Personal Savings Initiative, to address the U.S. retirement crisis. Among the topics it will address are 401(k)s, defined benefit pensions, Individual Retirement…