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More than 10.1 says million paid disability last year
More than 10.1 million people were paid disability benefits under the Social Security Disability Insurance program in 2012, 2.5 percent of whom were disabled widows or widowers. According to the most recent report from the Social Security Administration, awards to 960,206 disabled…
Kaiser Family Foundation Releases Study on 2014 Medicare Advantage
Kaiser’s study found small rate increases for 2014 and a (proportionally) small number of disenrollments in 2014. Approximately a half a million Medicare beneficiaries will need to switch plans in 2014, or about 5% of all those enrolled in MA.…
Gen Y is increasingly saving for their retirement
Remember when you were in elementary school and your teacher asked you to write an essay about what you would like to be when you grow up? Well, think about that same question but now about what you would like…
AMA Acts on Medicare Payment as Congress Considers Legislation
In response to news from Capitol Hill that a legislative proposal was in play to end the much-derided sustainable growth rate (SGR) component of the Medicare payment formula, the AMA voted during its recent Interim Meeting in Washington, D.C., to…
Putting stock in Social Security
One way to shore up the Social Security trust fund is to invest it in something with a better return than U.S. Treasury bonds. The idea has been floated off and on for years and is always rejected. But, when Steven…
QE Is Hazardous To Your Retirement
This article provides an analysis of the affects that the Federal Reserves’s Quantitative Easing (QA) program has had on the long-term retirement plans of many elderly Americans. The impact of low interest rates and continuous money supply expansion are explained,…
Sen. Sherrod Brown to co-sponsor Social Security bill
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown announced today that would co-sponsor a bill that would increase benefits and extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund, which nearly 66 percent of Americans rely on for at least half of their income…
Smart Ways to Choose a Medicare (Plan Five Last-Minute Tips for Medicare Enrollment)
If you want to switch your Medicare coverage for 2014, you’ve got just a few weeks left before the annual open enrollment period that ends Dec. 7. If you don’t make a move now, you’ll have limited opportunities to change…
The Growing Challenge with Disability Benefits
Disability benefits are part of the social security entitlement program and increasing costs and escalating numbers of claims are causing challenges. Some economists and others question if the bad economy along with the fact that people not being able to…
259 Congressional representatives call for SGR reform
A majority of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed a letter urging House leadership to support repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula, a long-time revenue threat to physicians. The November 20, 2013, letter from 259 Congressional members to Speaker…