Entries for August 2009

During its brief four-year history, Medicare's Part D program, designed to subsidize the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries, has been the subject of much debate. On one side, proponents have touted the plan's ability to expand access to prescription drugs to seniors; on the other, critics have long questioned its design and user-...

Health care legislation drafted by the House of Representatives would boost senior citizens' prescription drug-coverage premiums an average of 20 percent by 2019, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Friday.However, seniors' overall spending on drugs would decrease, according to the CBO report.The CBO said the premium costs would increa...

by JERRY REMMERSIf you thought seniors fighting phantom cuts in their Medicare benefits at those town hall meetings were angry, wait until the first of the year when it dawns on all of them they’re getting no cost of living increase for the next two years. In fact, six million of Social Security’s 50 million recipients will suffer a pay cut and all...

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHERMillions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise. The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won't be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn't happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1...

By Joshua Zumbrun, Forbes.comEvery January, Social Security payments are normally raised as part of a routine cost of living adjustment. But with inflation all but missing, come January 2010, retirees are unlikely to see bigger checks. In fact, the trustees of Social Security reportedly think that inflation may remain so low that there will be no i...

Most Medicare beneficiaries won’t pay higher premiums for Part B medical insurance coverage next year. Under current law, Part B premiums cannot rise faster than Social Security annual cost-of-living increases. And the Congressional Budget Office predicts there will be no cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients in 2010 and 2011. But...

By Mark AmbinderI've been trying to peel back some of the spin layers and figure out whether there really was a secret deal to between the White House and PhRMA that would have perpetually protected drug makers from the rapacious reach of Congressional Democrats. The notion that an iron-clad, inked deal existed is a convenient bit of history for th...

CONGRESS’ PLAN MEANS MEDICARE ‘DOUGHNUT HOLE’ MIGHT REMAIN UNTIL 2021By Bob GrahamIFAwebnews.comThe so-called doughnut hole that many Medicare Part D beneficiaries are finding themselves in with prescription drug coverage isn’t going to disappear for at least 12 years under a current proposal in the U.S. House of Representatives.Most of today’s 65-...

Right now the new House Bill would phase out the dreaded senior drug expense in 2023, 14 long years from now.The Medicare Rights CenterYour Weekly Medicare Consumer Advocacy UpdateJuly 23, 2009 Medicare's Part D drug benefit has a built-in gap in coverage known as the "doughnut hole," when coverage stops and consumers must pay the full cost for the...

Seniors will see a slight hike in their prescription drug plan premiums next year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).Seniors will pay an average of $30 a month -- $2 more than this year -- for their Part D premiums, based on bids submitted by insurers to CMS, the agency said.CMS also noted that about 800,000 of the 1...