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Homeowners and renter's insurance: With severe weather-related disasters, homeowner's insurance is one of the top ten fastest rising senior costs. If you haven't done so recently, review your coverage and determine whether it's based on the current value of your home and realistic current replacement costs. Many policies have new deductibles for wind and hurricane damage based on a percentage of your home's value, so take care and look before being tempted to increase deductibles to lower premium costs. Do shop around with other highly rated insurers to see if you can lower your premiums..I've read about proposals to "expand" Social Security that would provide somewhat higher benefits and a better cost-of-living adjustment. How can Social Security be expanded when the program is running out of money?.Drug and Health Plan Finders at : The only way to be sure you're getting unbiased information is to use the drug and health plan finders on the Medicare website, not from a dot com or even a dot org website, because most others receive income from ads, selling health plans or prescription drugs. Using the Drug and Health Plan Finders you can get an overview of the Part D and Medicare Advantage options in your area and estimated costs based on the prescriptions you take. Click on the Drug and Health Plan Finder link on the homepage and you will be taken to a page that will ask you a series of questions to get started. There's a Medicare Plan Finder online tutorial video to help show you what to do..What other ways would I be affected by this Chained COLA?.This question is signficant in light of proposals.Notch Bulletin: Does Your Representative Support Notch Reform? Help Us Build Key Support Now.This estimate appears to be one evaluated by the Government Accountability Office in 200The GAO found that "the cost of a Totalization Agreement with Mexico is highly uncertain, more so than previous agreements, because of the large number of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States.".Premiums for Medicare Part B, as well as premiums for either a Medigap and Part D plan, or a Medicare Advantage plan..Under the proposal by Congressman Paul Ryan, now Chairman of the House Budget Committee, and Alice Rivlin, a monetary and fiscal policy expert, Medicare would be changed from a system that pays per procedure, to one that would provide a fixed amount of money or voucher, to private health plans to provide coverage..So it could be significant this week that a Republican member of the Federal Trade Commission, Christine Wilson, stated that she believes Medicare should have more power to negotiate drug prices. She acknowledged that her position would be controversial among her fellow Republicans because they argue that allowing Medicare to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies would essentially allow Medicare to set drug prices and stifle development of innovative new drugs. As the year progresses, we shall see if her views make any difference.

Nourish What You Need To Know About Gluten
Fresh is not always more healthful than frozen. From the moment fruits and vegetables are harvested, they begin to lose nutrients. Fruits and vegetables grown in North America may spend up to 5 days in transit before arriving at a distribution center, and another 1-3 days on display prior to purchase. Consumers may keep their produce for up to 7 days prior to consumption. Consequently, fresh produce can lose a considerable amount of nutrients before consumption. A University of California study found, for example, that vitamin C losses in vegetables stored 7 days range from 15% for green peas, to 77% for green beans. Unless you are harvesting and consuming your own home grown fruits and vegetables within a few hours of picking, frozen choices may be just as high in nutrients..Late this week, lawmakers in the House and Senate adjourned for a seven-week summer recess. They are expected to return to Capitol Hill following the Labor Day holiday, on September 6th. In the meantime, most Members of Congress will be holding town hall meetings in their home states and districts, presenting constituents with an excellent opportunity to have their most pressing questions answered before the looming elections..Higher out-of-pocket costs: The drawback to MA plans is higher out-of-pocket costs. Where Medigap supplements pay most or almost all of your covered out-of-pocket costs, there are co-pays and deductibles for most services received through MA plans. Depending on the type of MA plan you are considering you may be required to use a narrower network of healthcare providers in order to get the lowest costs. If you are considering an HMO you will be required to use only the doctors, hospitals and providers in the HMO network, or neither the MA plan nor Medicare will reimburse your bills. … Continued

News Summary Congress Releases Fy17 Omnibus
This week, The Senior Citizens League was pleased to see support grow for two key bills..I lost my job a few months ago and at age 64, recently started Social Security retirement benefits. I just found out that I can work and still receive benefits at the same time. Can you tell me how this works? I thought you could lose your Social Security check?.Second, one new cosponsor Representative Sean Patrick Maloney signed on to the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act, bringing the total up to twenty. This bill, if adopted, would reduce prescription drug prices for older Americans by requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower covered Medicare Part D drug prices on behalf of beneficiaries. … Continued