News
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Legislative Update November 2013
According to Mr. Brune, SSA is making several organizational and technology-driven improvements that will lead to an increase in fraud detection. The administration is currently expanding its successful Cooperative Disability Investigations (CDI) program, which prevents benefit payments from being made in cases where fraud is detected. The CDI program is operating in thirty-three states this year, and it is expected to expand to the remaining seventeen states by 202Mr. Brune said, "Chairman Johnson and this Subcommittee have long championed this CDI program, and we thank you for that support." .To learn more about the problems of disability listen to the NPR story "Unfit for Work" The startling rise of disability in America. .This week, talks to repeal and replace the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula continued, but lawmakers revealed that a temporary "doc fix" might be necessary. In addition, The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) announced its support for a new piece of legislation, and one key bill gained support. … Continued
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Notch Bulletin March 2011
In places where state officials claimed that in-person inspections have taken place, the reports found no issues in most cases, even as Covid-19 claimed more than 31,000 deaths in nursing homes. Less than 3 percent of the more than 5,700 inspection surveys the federal government released this month had any infection control deficiencies, according to a report on Thursday by the Center for Medicare Advocacy, a nonprofit patient activist group. .An Emergency COLA in 2021 Would Prevent Economic Insecurity and An Unprecedented Medicare Part B Premium Increase for Older Americans. .CBO's current estimate of the Old Age and Survivor's Insurance fund's exhaustion date is 2031, one year earlier than its estimate was in 201If current laws generally did not change, CBO estimated the balance of the Disability Insurance fund would be exhausted in 2026. … Continued
As far as Medicare goes, the Part B funds will last for 30 years but the Part A funds, which pays inpatient hospital costs, will become insolvent in only 6 years. Both of those projections assume that nothing will be done before then to fix the programs, and TSCL has been working to get Congress to come up with a plan to stop those cuts from taking place. .Your husband would need to apply for Social Security disability benefits to learn if his medical condition meets the Social Security Administration's definition of disability. But before getting started, it's important to understand your choices, since your husband is also old enough to start Social Security retirement benefits. .Because of the strong push on the part of the President and members of Congress to find a way to lower drug prices, and getting drugs from other countries where the cost is lower has become popular as a solution, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released a proposal to let states submit drug importation plans for federal approval. .SGR Repeal Unlikely This Month .Trump Expected to Issue Executive Orders about Prescription Drugs .With about 1 million supporters, The Senior Citizens League is one of the nation's largest nonpartisan seniors groups. Located just outside Washington, D.C., its mission is to promote and assist members and supporters, to educate and alert senior citizens about their rights and freedoms as U.S. Citizens, and to protect and defend the benefits senior citizens have earned and paid for. The Senior Citizens League is a proud affiliate of TREA The Enlisted Association. ."The distinction between inpatient or outpatient can make a tremendous difference to what Medicare patients have to pay," says TSCL Executive Director, Shannon Benton. Inpatient stays are covered under Medicare Part A. Inpatients who are hospitalized for three days or more qualify for Medicare's limited nursing home stay coverage. Observation stays are considered outpatient services covered under Part B. Observation patients can have much higher copayments costs and sometimes get hit with huge bills for non-covered drugs. .On October 22, 2014, TSCL's Executive Director was interviewed on Fox Business about the 2015 COLA announcement. .Calculate the annual COLA using the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E). TSCL studies indicate that using the CPI-E would provide a very modestly - higher COLA in most years.