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Beware Medicare’s ‘Observation’ Status
When in the hospital, more Medicare recipients are being held for observation rather than being formally admitted, a status that can leave them with big bills for items including rehabilitation services. While the federal agency that runs Medicare expects new rules…
Default Hits Not On Debt But Unpaid SS
It is disheartening to discover all those anger management classes I took are wasted when I listen to what passes for new reports. Monday morning it was the effects of the government shutdown that set me off. The government is forbidding…
Empire Building, the Debt Ceiling, the Budget Deficit and the “Samson Solution”
US and world political and economic leaders are faced with what they describe as a ‘systemic catastrophe’: the inability to pay global creditors, including domestic and foreign banks, investors and governments, who hold $16.7 trillion in US Treasury notes. There…
Sanders Will Be On Budget Conference Committee
In what can only be seen as good news for people who like traditional earned-benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare, here’s one name that appears on the list of Senate conferees in the upcoming Paul Ryan-Patty Murray budget talks…
Poll Finds Veterans are Likely Losing Out on Social Security Benefits
A survey of U.S. veterans, conducted for the Kiplinger Washington Editors, finds a high percentage of vets are unaware of how to get an estimate of their Social Security benefits, and don’t understand the cost of claiming benefits early or…
30 Seconds for Oct. 18
The president and congress are crowing about victory in ending the shutdown and raising the debt limit. But spending more than we have will continue, Social Security and Medicare will go broke even faster and entitlements will grow and your taxes…
Alliance for Retired Americans Friday Alert, October 18, 2013
“There is real danger ahead of a ‘grand bargain’ that would cut seniors’ Social Security and Medicare benefits, giving us more reason to be anxious. Such a deal would more accurately be termed a ‘Grand Betrayal,’” said Edward F. Coyle,…
Social Security COLA Increase of About 1.5 Percent Now Expected
Senior citizens and others on Medicare will find out their pay increase for 2014 on Wednesday, October 30. The Department of Labor says that is the day it will release the Consumer Price Index for September, which is the last…
Republicans Lose, But Voters Win If Congress Is Forced To Do Its Job
By now everybody agrees it was a boneheaded idea to try and roll back Obamacare by threatening to shut down the federal government. But I was quietly supporting the Tea Party for one reason. In their failed attempt at legislative…
Debt Default Deal Sets the Stage for Intensified Assault on Social Programs
The bill passed by Congress late Wednesday reopening the federal government and temporarily lifting the debt ceiling establishes the modus operandi for a bipartisan deal to deepen cuts in social spending and initiate an historic attack on the core social…