One of the big questions we have is why this flu is so different from the regular seasonal flu, or even the flu viruses we've experienced in the past years such as swine flu, SARS, MERS or Ebola. After all, whether we like it or not, it's a fact that seniors are among the most vulnerable when it comes to theses flus, especially if someone has other serious underlying illnesses. It's also a fact that significant numbers of people die each time there is a flu outbreak, and seniors make up a large portion of those deaths..Accelerate or postpone discretionary medical expenses when feasible. The new health law reduced the amount of unreimbursed medical expenses that you can claim when itemizing the deductions. Taxpayers under the age of 65 can claim deductions for expenses that exceed 10 percent of their adjusted gross income. If you are age 65 and older you may still deduct total medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross temporarily but that ends in 201If your expenses are right on the borderline, you may want to take care of any pending medical services and appointments now, so you can boost your deduction for 201If your expenses were too low to claim the medical expense deduction for 2014, consider postponing discretionary services a few weeks into the New Year..better coverage and reduced her drug cost to a co-pay. Once you determine.Illegal immigrants get jobs using counterfeit, invalid, and stolen Social Security numbers that employers use to withhold payroll taxes and report earnings to the Social Security Administration. Immigration advocates argue that unauthorized workers have little chance of collecting benefits. "That changes once those workers gain a valid Social Security number," Hyland says. Social Security Administration policy allows noncitizens who have evidence of earnings under invalid Social Security numbers, to claim and reinstate those earnings for use in determining entitlement once they obtain a valid Social Security number. The earnings are then used to determine the initial retirement benefit amount..The Speaker slammed drug companies for the level of stock buybacks and dividends in recent years and argued that cuts to prices will not harm research and development spending given new findings on buybacks..In the coming weeks, budget discussions will continue on Capitol Hill as committees in the House and Senate form proposals of their own. TSCL is hopeful that leaders in both chambers will consider measures that would improve the pharmaceutical industry and ensure access to more affordable prescription drugs for Part D enrollees. We will monitor the budget debate closely in the weeks ahead, and we will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website..The less painful alternatives are: bringing new state and local workers into the Social Security system, gradually raising the payroll tax cap to its originally intended level, and raising the retirement age..According to the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2020, 99% of Medicare Advantage and drug plans require prior authorization for at least some health services and prescription drugs. Traditional Medicare, on the other hand, does not require prior authorization for the majority of services, but may do so for some Part B drugs administered in doctors' offices, such as chemotherapy treatments. Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans typically use prior authorization for higher cost services, such as inpatient hospital care, high tech diagnostic scans and tests, and more expensive prescription drugs..TSCL enthusiastically supports H.R. 2575, H.R. 1205, and H.R. 242, and we were pleased to see support grow for each one this week. For more information about these and other bills, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website.
