Medicaid issue brief olmsteads role in community integration for people with disabilities under medicaid 15 years after the supreme courts olmstead decision

In a statement, Mary Johnson a policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League said this week: "This could be particularly problematic for older, low-income Americans who represent a disproportionate share of Medicaid spending … Capping and adjusting payments to states would take benefits away from millions of low-income families, including disabled and older Americans in nursing homes, all to pay for massive tax breaks for the very wealthiest U.S. households.".TSCL opposes such plans since evidence shows they would result in higher out-of-pocket costs for most older Americans, and we will advocate against them as the administration attempts to build support. To stay updated on the latest Medicare reform news from Washington, visit the Legislative News section of our website..One of my bills would also increase insurance options for older Americans who are not yet age 6While the Affordable Care Act has greatly expanded insurance coverage, and limited insurers' ability to charge older Americans higher premiums, we can do a lot more to increase options and affordability. My Medicare-X Choice Act would expand on the Medicare framework to create a new public insurance plan for people of all ages..For more information about town hall meetings near you during next week's recess, click HERE. You can also call the local offices of your Members of Congress to request information about upcoming town halls. For contact information, click HERE..On Monday, President Obama released his .066 trillion budget blueprint for fiscal 201His plan puts an end to the so-called "sequester" and increases spending for defense and discretionary programs by 7 percent. Upon releasing the blueprint, he said, "I'm not going to accept a budget that locks in sequestration going forward. It would be bad for our security and bad for our growth. I want to work with Congress to replace mindless austerity with smart investments.".TSCL's Take.Doctors, hospitals, and other providers would also be affected payments would be reduced to nursing homes, teaching hospitals, and other facilities, and doctors would no longer be paid according to the fee schedule laid out in the flawed sustainable growth rate formula. While some of these changes including the repeal of the SGR would be welcomed by TSCL, we do have serious concerns about the increased cost-sharing that many beneficiaries would see under the plan..The last time no COLA was payable, was in 201The Medicare Trustees had estimated Part B premiums would increase by an unprecedented 52%. Congress enacted legislation that limited the premium increase to 16%, but also required a per month "repayment" to make up the difference in subsequent years. After deduction for Part B premiums, roughly half of all beneficiaries saw no growth in their net Social Security benefits from 2016 until 2019, when there was a 2.8% COLA, according to TSCL's annual surveys..In addition, the Social Security Fairness Act gained one new cosponsor in Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, bringing the cosponsor total up to 16If signed into law, H.R. 1205 would repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision two Social Security provisions that unfairly reduce the earned benefits of millions of public servants each year.

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Compare your drug and health plan options during the Medicare Open Enrollment period October 15th - December 7th. Does your current drug plan cover expensive new prescriptions? If not, you need to check your other options. Chances are another plan will. Use the Drug and Health Plan Finder at. Make sure you carefully enter every prescription drug you take in order to get a custom comparison of your best drug plan choices. Costs can vary by hundreds, even thousands, of dollars, and you may be very surprised by the savings from switching to a better plan. You can get unbiased help to compare your coverage. Call your Area Agency on Aging and ask for the help of a State Health Insurance Assistance Program counselor, or visit online..Finally, three new cosponsors signed on to the Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act, bringing the total up to one hundred and fifty-one. The new cosponsors are Reps. Henry Cuellar, Leonard Lance, and Charles Rangel. If signed into law, H.R. 1179 would amend current Medicare policy to count hospital stays under "observation status" towards the three-day requirement for skilled nursing care. Currently, those under "observation status" don't qualify for coverage of the benefit, and they are often hit with large, unexpected bills after receiving necessary medical care..Again, according to the Politico report, "Several of the moderate Democrats expressing reservations about the drug pricing bill are the targets of a million-plus campaign by the conservative American Action Network opposing the legislation. The group plans to air ads in the districts of more than 40 Democrats, slamming H.R. 3 as "Nancy Pelosi's socialist prescription drug takeover plan" and warning it would 'cancel new cures for the patients who need them and send American innovation overseas.'" … Continued

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I'm turning 65 later this year and my dentist tells me that I will need dentures. Does Medicare cover dental services?.Most Americans contribute 6.2 percent of every paycheck to Social Security, but due to the payroll tax cap, people earning more than 8,400 contribute nothing over that amount. Eliminating the payroll tax cap would extend the solvency of the program responsibly, without cutting benefits for seniors. Do you agree?.Social Security Taxation Question Pushes Action on "Boost Bill" Into 2020 … Continued