State Category Affordable Care ActAppropriations Talks Continue.Efforts are quietly underway to lay the groundwork for a far-reaching fiscal deal that involves Social Security cost-of-living adjustments and Medicare benefits. White House officials and Senate Republicans have met in a series of private sessions in recent months. In his fiscal year 2014 budget, President Obama proposed reducing the growth in COLAs as well as raising Medicare premiums, reducing benefits of higher income seniors and increasing the Medicare eligibility age. Everything is still on the table, the pressure point being the debt limit. The government is expected to hit the debt limit ceiling the statutory borrowing limit - sometime this fall.."Prior Authorization in Medicare Advantage Plans: How Often Is It Used?" Gretchen Jacobson and Tricia Neuman, Kaiser Family Foundation, October 201"Medicare Advantage Appeal Outcomes and Audit Findings Raise Concerns About Service and Payment Denials," Office of the Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services, September 25, 2018. … Continued
Nourish Six Foods Trends To Watch For In 2020Eliminating the "cash cliff" that hits when a disabled beneficiary earns more than ,090 in any given month and is immediately cut off from benefits. The cash cliff serves as a workforce disincentive and could be addressed by simply adopting the method used in the retirement program, where monthly benefits are reduced by for every in earnings over ,310, thus providing an improved earning opportunity..McCaskill brought her own brother's experience with pharmaceutical companies as an example to illustrate the way companies wine and dine the doctors who prescribe their medications..Barbara, who is now 75, retired 9 years ago. In 2009, the first year after starting benefits, she received a 5.8% COLA and the Part B premium stayed the same as the year before. But in the following 8 years, COLAs dropped to record lows, averaging just 1.1% per year over the entire period. … Continued