To qualify for Medicare coverage, beneficiaries must be an inpatient for at least 3 days in a row, not counting the day of discharge. What you can do: If admitted to a hospital, it's highly important that you, or your designated caregiver, find out immediately whether you are being admitted to the hospital as an inpatient or an outpatient. Even if you are admitted as an inpatient, the hospital can sometimes switch you to observation (and outpatient) status, but the hospital is required to notify you while you are still a patient. Should this happen to you, ask your caregiver to take steps to have the decision reversed while you are still a patient. .The majority of seniors aged 65 who get Social Security depend on it for at least 50 percent of their income. Average benefits today only total about ,200 a year. .For many aged 65 and older, times are already tough. Since 2005, health care costs have risen faster than inflation every year except 200We need to be working to make retirement more secure for the 130,000 seniors living in Southern Arizona who I represent and the millions of others across the country. I'll continue to fight to make that happen. .While 401(k) plans have enjoyed a decade of relatively strong returns recently, these plans carry greater risk and place responsibility on individuals for saving, investment decisions, and management. "These are three skills sets that most of us have never adequately learned, much less ever expected to practice after we retired," says Johnson. "One simple mistake can affect your standard of living in retirement for years," Johnson says. .Nineteen percent (19%) have postponed filling one or more prescriptions due to quarantine or emergency orders to stay home. .It is times like these when Social Security benefits are increasingly important, when "the best laid plans" are going awry for millions of seniors. As Congress considers changes to the Social Security system, TSCL is urging Congress to make the need for adequate and stable benefits a priority. .TSCL agrees with Rep. Johnson, and we believe Congress must begin formulating a serious plan to fix the program's finances. Recently, we announced our support for two pieces of legislation that we believe are long overdue. One bill (S. 499 / H.R. 918) would prevent beneficiaries from collecting both unemployment benefits and disability insurance benefits at the same time. The second bill (S. 1198 / H.R. 1936) would ensure that evidence from convicted felons and other criminals is excluded when determining whether an individual is eligible for disability benefits. .We urge you to be cautious. You should not be charged just for being put on a list. If you receive a contact like this you should call your doctor's office or your local health department to try and verify that such a list exists. .Critics of mandatory arbitration say the agreements stack the deck against long term care residents and consumers. Unlike civil suits which go to court, arbitration is private, and there's no judge or jury. There are no rules of evidence that arbitrators have to follow under the law, and there's no oversight. Critics also contend that consumers are less likely to win their cases in private arbitration and, if they do win, they tend to get much less money than they would in court.