Nourish Can You Eat Your Way To Lower CholesterolYes, unfortunately this is correct. Under current law Social Security benefits are not payable for the month in which a beneficiary dies. This is so even when the beneficiary, like your husband, passes away on the last day of the month. However, according to the Social Security Administration the check that an individual receives in a given month is the payment for the preceding month. That means the check that your husband received during the month of March was his benefit for February, which you would be entitled to keep. It is the March payment that you would have received in April, and any thereafter that must be returned..Maintenance and repair: This doesn't refer to occasional jobs like painting and replacing a roof, for which you may need to tap savings or a home equity line of credit. This category covers the far more common on-going repair headaches like leaky plumbing, failed furnaces, and drafty windows. Housekeeping and gardening services and equipment also come under this expense category. As seniors age, the need for services grows as health and living circumstances change. A common rule of thumb is to establish from 2% to 4% of the value of your home as your annual maintenance and repair budget. If 2% is too big of a stretch, forcing you to spend down your savings faster than you intended, you may want to think about downsizing your home as a new year's resolution, and look for newer, more modest housing in a less expensive area or even renting..So far there's been little discussion on how to fix the disability program. Congress and President Obama have debated reducing cost-of-living adjustments that would reduce the growth in benefits of all Social Security recipients. There has also been debate over raising the eligibility age, and other changes affecting the retirement program. … Continued
State Indicator Small Group Health Insurance Market Rate RestrictionsAccording to an article last week in StatNews, a newsletter that covers health and medical issues, the answer seems to be "whichever one is available to you first.".The Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset were included in the Social Security Act of 1983 to help shore up the Social Security program. I believe this has done little to secure the program and, instead, unfairly reduces the Social Security benefits of millions of public employees. Earlier this year, I reintroduced legislation, H.R. 973, the Social Security Fairness Act, to repeal these arcane policies..The issue of PBM transparency is not a hyper-partisan issue - and that was clear when the U.S. House passed our bill by an overwhelming margin of 403 to 0. That vote should signal just how common high drug prices are in districts across the country, and I'm encouraged by Democrats and Republicans both recognizing the pressing need for our legislation. … Continued