Latest News
Indiana State’s Blumberg Center continues important role in disability awareness organization
What began as a month-long partnership to coordinate events for Indiana Disability Awareness Month in March continues four years later through the Disabilities Awareness Work Group. The organization’s nearly 50 service agencies and private individuals continue to be effective in providing…
Is This Popular Social Security Benefit Going Away?
I am a Viet Nam Vet, turning 65 this September. Recently, I was at the VA and someone told me that if I use the VA for my Medicare benefits that I cannot enroll in Medicare. I’ve also been told…
Rep. McCarthy Joins Colleagues to Urge Action on Unemployment Insurance
Earlier this week, Congresswoman McCarthy joined colleagues in signing a discharge petition to bring up H.R. 3546, the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act. The discharge petition would force an up-or-down vote that would extend unemployment insurance for more than 2 million…
Congress Confronts Medicare Cuts to Doctors’ Fees
Hope is fading for a Capitol Hill drive to permanently fix Medicare’s outdated payment formula and spare doctors from automatic cuts in their fees next month. Now the question is whether lawmakers can regroup and come up with a short-term…
Medicare Is Nickel-and-Diming Patients for Every Trivial Procedure
Before the government started charging us for Medicare, my doctor treated me for the flu, sutured a laceration I did to myself with a box cutter, delivered my brother and any other malady that his patients needed to be treated…
For Some Retirees, ‘Retirement’ Is A Dirty Word
For healthy, vibrant retirees, the word “retirement” conjures a depressing image of a stagnant life spent sitting in a chair, newspaper in hand, waiting for the mail to arrive. Working with clients for more than 25 years I’ve watched the definition…
Republicans need to think outside the box
President Barack Obama wants to increase the minimum wage to more than $10 an hour. Government financial experts have estimated the increase will cost 500,000 jobs, but will escalate a million people above the poverty level. Based on those predictions,…
The GOP’s need for creative policy
Of all the signs of Democratic midterm trouble, it is fitting that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius— who has already contributed so much — should make another important offering. She recently assured the House Ways and Means Committee…
Unemployed older workers forced to turn to Social Security
At 62, Deborah Gee had some money set aside for retirement and planned to work a few more years to add to her savings before spending her golden years volunteering at church, sewing and enjoying more time with her granddaughter. Those…
Unfair characterization of Republicans
Harold Walters purports to know the hearts and minds of Republicans. In his letter, “Evaluating Republicans,” he states the following falsehoods: “Every Republican opposes Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, women’s health care, workers’ right to representation and the EPA.…