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Helping Low-Income People with Medicare Pay for Their Health Care
Medicare provides health coverage for 41 million older Americans and 9 million non-elderly Americans with disabilities. But the monthly and out-of-pocket costs can be a burden for low-income people, and traditional Medicare doesn’t cover services that many people need, such…
VA’s time to resolve disability appeals shoots up, lagging department’s goals
The average time for a denied claim to work its way through the cumbersome Department of Veterans Affairs appeals process shot up to more than 900 days last year, double the department’s long-term target. Read more… Notice: The “Read…
Patience Is a Virtue: How to Make up to 76 Percent More in Retirement
Patience is a virtue. In the case of Social Security, it can also translate to a higher retirement benefit. Up to 76 percent higher. A new toolkit, When to Take Social Security: It Pays to Wait , released today by the National Academy of…
Hatch: Study Shows Medicare Advantages Cuts will Hurt Seniors’ Access to Quality Health Care
Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today said a new study by Oliver Wyman confirmed that steep cuts to the popular Medicare Advantage (MA) program will hurt seniors’ access to quality and affordable health care. The report found that seniors who…
Some Thoughts on Social Security – The Thomas Jefferson Institute
Today our local newspapers headlines were that the president was backing off from Social Security cuts in his budget which will be released early in March. As someone who receives Social Security, and also one hoping his own children will…
Raising Social Security’s Retirement Age
Social Security is one of our nation’s most successful programs but faces long-term financial issues as its costs are growing faster than its revenues. While there are many positive aspects to Americans living longer, that trend also increases costs to…
Many delay retiring: Need more money, enjoy their jobs
Americans are still putting retirement on the back burner, but not just for financial reasons, according to a new survey. Many say they need the health insurance and benefits, and half say they just enjoy their jobs. And although the numbers…
Obama budget will seek record funding for new doctors
President Obama will propose boosting the National Health Services Corps from 8,900 a year to 15,000 a year over the next five years, as well as spending $5.23 billion to train 13,000 primary care residents over the next 10 years,…
Administration Unable to Assure Proposed Medicare Part D Rule Will Not Lead to More #BrokenPromises for Nation’s Seniors
The House Energy and Commerce Committee Health Subcommittee today expressed concerns about the legality, consequences, and cost of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ proposed changes to the popular Medicare Part D prescription drug program. The administration’s proposed rule…
The Dark Side of Retirement
A retired CEO, Jerry was a sad, aging man who reflected constantly on the emptiness of his life. Listening to him, it became clear to me that he had never had any interests outside work. And the prospect of spending time at…