August 2023 Update ...
Author Archives: shannon
New Medicare Part D Drug Program Will Allow Monthly Payments
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that beginning in 2025, subscribers to Medicare Part D will have the option to pay their out-of-pocket prescription drug costs over a year using a monthl ...
Drugs to be Negotiated for Lower Pricing are Announced
Last week, the White House announced the names of 10 prescription drugs that will be subject to the negotiating power of Medicare. The government expects prices will be slashed by half on average, with the first cuts tak ...
Will Congress Keep the Government from Shutting Down?
Each year, Congress must pass the legislation needed to fund the federal government for the new fiscal year, which begins on October 1. That is supposed to be accomplished by the end of September. But it rarely happens a ...
COLA Estimate for 2024 Still 3%
For Immediate Release: August 10, 2023 The Social Security cost of living adjustment (COLA) for 2024 is looking increasingly like it may be around 3%, based on consumer price data released today, according to The S ...
Bills to Lower Drug Costs Advance in Congress
The fight to lower drug prices has featured a war between the big drug companies and the businesses known as Pharmaceutical Benefit Managers (PBMs), each blaming the other for the outrageous costs of urgently needed pres ...
Medicare to Select Drugs for Lower Price Negotiations
According to The Hill, a news outlet in Washington, D.C., “The first ten drugs selected for Medicare price negotiation will be announced by Sep. 1 and will set the stage for unprecedented government action regulating dru ...
Health Records of 612,000 Medicare Enrollees are Stolen
It was announced this past weekend that more than 600,000 people in the US Medicare program may have had personal data, including medical records, exposed through a data breach. The data was on systems belonging to Ma ...
With So Much Left to do, Congress takes a Vacation for the Next Six Weeks
With So Much Left to do, Congress takes a Vacation for the Next Six Weeks The members of Congress left town late last week for their annual August recess. However, they left a huge pile of work with little time left ...
July 2023
With So Much Left to do, Congress takes a Vacation for the Next Six Weeks The members of Congress left town late last week for their annual August recess. However, they left a huge pile of work with little time left to ...