On Wednesday, lawmakers on the Senate HELP Committee held a courtesy hearing to question Representative Tom Price, a Congressman from Georgia and an orthopedic surgeon who has been nominated to fill the position of HHS Secretary. Both the Social Security Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services fall under the jurisdiction of HHS, and the agency has one of the federal government's largest budgets at trillion..Social Security is one of the foundations of our nation and it is based on the principle that if you work hard and play by the rules you will have the stability and security of guaranteed income in your older years. For 75 years, Social Security has been a critical safety net for our nation's seniors and it should be preserved for generations to come. For these reasons, I will keep fighting to provide an accurate measure of inflation for our senior citizens and to strengthen the program..Women who receive Social Security benefits outnumber men who do by almost 18%, according to data from the Social Security Administration. While women tend to outlive men, the average benefit received by women is 26% lower than the average benefit received by men..MA plans include Part D and other benefits: Nearly 90% of MA plans come with drug coverage and often include some additional benefits. Before switching it's important to check the MA plan coverage for the drugs you currently take and compare that coverage with your best Part D drug plan choice. If you haven't checked your Part D plan choices recently you may have less costly choices for stand-alone drug plans. The best way for you to compare MA plan and drug plan choices is to do a drug plan comparison based on the drugs you take using the drug plan finder on Medicare's website..Example: In 2018 you are allowed to earn ,040 per year or ,420 per month without Social Security withholding any of your benefits. Let's say you earn more, ,900 per month. That would mean you would earn 0 more than the limit. Social Security would reduce your benefit by 0 per month, leaving you with just 0 per month. In addition, your earnings would also subject a portion of your Social Security benefits to taxation..The amount of the bill that your dad received, however, is not necessarily unexpected. Medicare Advantage plans charge daily co-payments for hospital stays. A one week stay in the hospital, with respiratory support, could easily cost in excess of ,944..The provision would ban earnings from jobs worked without legal authorization from being used to determine entitlement to Social Security benefits and for calculating the amount of initial benefits, legislation that TSCL and TSCL's grass roots members have long supported. TSCL's Legislative Assistant, Jessie Gibbons delivered a letter from Chairman, Larry Hyland, expressing TSCL's support for the amendment to Senators Hatch and Rubio..TSCL is especially concerned about how seniors and their families would be informed about the change of health plans. Dual eligible seniors are more likely to have cognitive challenges, and their family caregivers may not understand that a transition to a new health plan is taking place, or how to navigate the changes. TSCL is particularly concerned that seniors may not be able to keep their former doctors and other healthcare providers if those providers don't participate under the new plans. If so, this raises the potential for unintended and uncovered costs, if seniors unwittingly continue to see their former doctor or present the wrong health plan card when visiting providers..It was always expected that few if any Republicans in the House of Representatives would support legislation to lower drug prices. But it turns out that a group of moderate Democrats has now said they do not support the sweeping legislation that Democratic leaders in the House have proposed.
