By Susan Stewart, Licensed Insurance Agent I lived in England for 10 years, worked, got a driver’s license, joined a book club, and needed medical care. Here are facts and observations written from the point of observation rather than deep investigative reporting. In the U.K., prescriptions currently cost £9.90 each. That is about $12. In 2012, they were ...

By Daisy Brown, Legislative Liaison, TSCL The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law by former President Biden in January, will raise benefits for 3.2 million Americans who receive pensions for work that Social Security doesn’t cover. This means that many public workers—such as firefighters, teachers, and police officers—will no longer have their retirement benefits penalized ...

By Alex Moore Dementia affected more than 6.7 million Americans in 2023, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), with 14 million projected cases by 2060. The disease is brutal, not just for patients, but their families as well. It’s a major reason why 53 million Americans, according to an estimate from AARP ...

By Alex Moore Medicare just punished drug companies for increasing the price of medicine faster than inflation. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) identified 64 drugs whose prices outpaced inflation in December and lowered their Part B coinsurance from January through the end of this month. The agency estimates that seniors will save up ...

By Edward Cates, Chair, TSCL President Trump laid out a major new policy proposal in December on his social media platform, Truth Social. “SENIORS SHOULD NOT PAY TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY!” he wrote, suggesting that he would like to eliminate the rules that require seniors to pay taxes on up to 85 percent of their benefits, ...

By Alex Moore In November, former President Biden proposed expanding anti-obesity drugs, like Wegovy, for people with Medicare and Medicaid coverage. These drugs are currently only covered for people who use them to treat other conditions, like diabetes and heart disease. However, the change faces a threat from the incoming administration. The new administration’s pick to lead ...

By Edward Cates, Chairman, TSCL It’s already February, which means that this year’s tax deadline of April 15 is just a few short weeks away. For many Social Security recipients, especially people who have just started claiming their benefits, it adds yet another layer of complexity to figuring out how much you owe the government—or ...

Although the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will increase benefits by 5.9% in 2022 — the highest inflation adjustment in 40 years — the Medicare Part B premium increase is still rapidly outpacing the COLA percentagewise, by jumping 14.5%.  That’s one of the biggest Part B premium increases on record and the highest since 2016 when ...

A newly approved drug to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease is drawing criticism for it’s $56,000 price tag, especially given its lack of proven effectiveness.  Aduhelm stirred controversy when the Food and Drug Administration’s own expert advisory panel was nearly unanimous in opposing the drug’s approval due to mixed results in studies of effectiveness. Now ...

A new Medicare cost-saving rule that was launched late in 2020 will cut payments to hospitals for some surgical procedures and could potentially raise costs for Medicare recipients.  According to an article by Susan Jaffe, of Kaiser Health News, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has for years classified 1,740 surgeries and other ...