Access to the plans is highly variable. While some areas of the country have dozens of Medicare Advantage plans, rural counties often have very limited choices, or as little as just one insurer. Frequently, older and sicker enrollees discover that Medicare Advantage plan out-of-pocket spending due to chronic health conditions, or a hospitalization can be much higher than with a Medigap plan. Medigap supplements cover most, or even all, out of pocket costs..These price increases are very likely to block some patients from affording their medication, following instructions for taking the drugs, result in higher costs for treatment in the future because of not taking the prescriptions as directed, and cause higher incidents of additional health issues and death rates..This week, a bipartisan group of Senators sent a letter to the White House urging executive action on prescription drug prices. In addition, two key bills gained support in the House..The Social Security COLA was created to protect the purchasing power of Social Security benefits received by older and disabled Americans, but the results of this new study show that seniors are failing to keep up with rising costs. In recent years, inflation and COLAs have been at record low levels, averaging just 1.2 percent per year since 20In 2018, Social Security beneficiaries received a COLA of 2 percent, yet most saw no increase at all in their net benefits due to substantially higher Medicare Part B premiums..Deaths related to COVID-19 were higher among American Indian and Alaskan Native persons, Hispanics, Blacks and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander persons than whites. Among nearly all these ethnic and racial minority groups, the COVID-19 related deaths were more than double the death rate of non-Hispanic white persons..A new study recently found that Social Security benefits have lost 34 percent of their purchasing power since 2000 due to rising costs and inadequate cost-of-living adjustments. Do you support the bipartisan CPI-E Act, which would make the COLA more fair and adequate?.As long as all other qualifications are met, and they have evidence of their earnings, like W2s, they may file a claim for Social Security benefits. Others who receive an SSN after 2004 must have work authorization to claim benefits. Yet even people who worked illegally for many years sometimes later change status. That can occur even without an amnesty, especially if the illegals have children who were born in this country. Because the children are born as U.S. citizens, when they become adults they can sponsor their parents to stay in the U.S. legally and to receive work authorization. If their parents kept W2s and evidence earnings, those work credits will be re-instated to their new SSNs. Once they receive work authorization, noncitizens can later file a claim for Social Security benefits..Have health insurance coverage. If you are under the age of 65 and didn't have health insurance for some or part of 2014 you may have to pay a tax penalty. For people who don't have Medicare or Medicaid, the penalty for not having coverage is the greater of 1% of your annual income, or The penalty is rising in 2015 to the greater of 2% or 5 per person.."Record low growth in Social Security benefits over the past seven years is contributing to the problem," says TSCL Chairman, Ed Cates. Social Security recipients receive an annual cost of living adjustment in most years, to protect the buying power of benefits from rising prices when they retire. But since 2010, the annual raise has averaged just 1.2 percent - less than half the more typical 3 percent average from 1999 2009.
