By Jamie Hopkins ; Forbes ~ Feb 18, 2015

Social Security is the backbone of retirement planning in the United States. Nearly one-third of retirees receive almost all of their retirement income from the system and nearly two-thirds receive more than half of their retirement income from Social Security. In short, America’s retirees need Social Security. However, it is not only retirees that rely upon Social Security. The Social Security Disability Insurance Trust Fund provides benefits to disabled workers, their spouses, and children. In December 2014, nearly 11 million people received Disability Insurance from Social Security, with an average benefit of roughly $1,000 per month. While the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the portion of Social Security that most people think of as their retirement benefits, is not set to run out of money in the trust until 2033, the Disability Insurance Trust will run out in 2016 if nothing is changed. This shortfall would result in a nearly 20% cut to benefits, reducing those $1,000 checks down to $800 a month. The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, Carolyn Colvin, recently stressed the importance of the situation when she stated “I don’t want to be dramatic, but I’ve worked with this population my whole career. I think we [would] give them a death sentence[.]” However, some of the proposals coming from Congress and the current Administration would provide only temporary relief, again delaying any solutions to the real funding issues with Social Security.

By Gina Kolata; The New York Times ~ Feb 17, 2015

Suffering. The very word made doctors uncomfortable. Medical journals avoided it, instructing authors to say that patients “ ‘have’ a disease or complications or side effects rather than ‘suffer’ or ‘suffer from’ them,” said Dr. Thomas H. Lee, the chief medical officer of Press Ganey, a company that surveys hospital patients.

But now, reducing patient suffering — the kind caused not by disease but by medical care itself — has become a medical goal. The effort is driven partly by competition and partly by a realization that suffering, whether from long waits, inadequate explanations or feeling lost in the shuffle, is a real and pressing issue. It is as important, says Dr. Kenneth Sands, the chief quality officer at Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, as injuries, like medication errors or falls, or infections acquired in a hospital.

By Dylan Scott; Talking Points Memo ~ Feb 17, 2015

The definitive Democratic counterproposal in the fledgling fight over Social Security is starting to emerge, and it has a familiar ring in the era of income inequality politics: tax the rich.

More specifically, Democrats are proposing to raise or eliminate the cap on Social Security taxes. Those taxes are currently collected up to $118,500 of a person’s income, and any income above that is Social Security tax-free. The liberal Center for American Progress said in a new report last week that the program had lost $1.1 trillion over the last 30 years because of it.

By Sarah Thomas; Light Reading ~ Feb 17, 2015

AT&T is making good on its promise to make Mexico a priority since closing its Iusacell acquisition and announcing plans to buy Nextel Mexico as well this year. Integrating both carriers is its big task for 2015 and beyond, but — in the meantime — it’s making it easier to call the country for both its postpaid and prepaid customers.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) announced Tuesday that its prepaid GoPhone customers on $60 data plans will now also get free calling to Mexico, starting on Friday. At the same time, it upped the amount of data for its prepaid GoPhone customers — those on $45 1GB plans will automatically get 1.5GB of monthly data and those on the $60 2.5GB plans will get 4GB of data.

By Billy Hallowell; TheBlaze ~ Feb 16, 2015

Do the rich pay their fair share of taxes? That’s the very question that Lee Ohanian, an economics professor at UCLA, tackled in a new course for Prager University, revealing some fascinating statistics that he says dispel the myth that the wealthy aren’t paying enough into the tax system.

Ohanian began by noting that defining two elements is essential before fully understanding the issue: who, exactly, qualifies as rich and how “fair” should be defined.

“According to 2011 data, a top 10 percent house makes around $150,000 per year in gross annual income [before deductions and taxes],” he said, noting that the top five percent consists of people making $190,00 and above.

By Jan M. Rosen; The New York Times ~ Feb 14, 2015

What’s new this tax season? In a word: Obamacare. That’s the answer given by many tax professionals.

People who overcame the challenges of Healthcare.gov and succeeded in buying health insurance under the Affordable Care Act last year now face a new set of hurdles in the form of daunting tax forms. So do business owners who offer coverage to employees under the law’s Small Business Health Options Program. But the good news for both is that they may receive a tax credit that reduces taxes dollar for dollar.

By Rebecca Shabad; The Hill ~ Feb 14, 2015

Social Security is surging to the forefront of the political debate ahead of the race for the White House in 2016.

The entitlement program has been thrust into the spotlight by a fight over the Social Security disability fund, which is expected to run dry by the end of next year.

The looming shortfall is stirring a burst of activism on the left, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a likely 2016 candidate, and liberal hero Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) warning of an assault on the program from Republicans in Congress.

By Greg Scandlen; Forbes ~ Feb 12, 2015

Mr. Scandlen is a senior fellow of The Heartland Institute and founder and director of Consumers for Health Care Choices.

When I first became eligible for Medicare I went through the Pennsylvania version of the booklet “Medicare & You,” looking for the Medicare Advantage plan that would be the best choice for me. This is an annual autumn ritual for anyone who wants a private “Medicare Advantage” plan. This year in Pennsylvania there were 19 pages in all, describing 129 different plans, with brief descriptions of each.

By Richard Rubin; Bloomberg ~ Feb 12, 2015

(Bloomberg) — The House of Representatives voted to revive three U.S. tax breaks that encourage charitable giving in a bipartisan challenge to President Barack Obama’s threat to veto the measure.

The 279-137 vote on Thursday exceeds the two-thirds threshold needed to override a presidential veto. The bill would extend the benefits indefinitely, saving taxpayers an estimated $14.3 billion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.

“This is where there’s an incredible amount of common ground,” said Representative Peter Roskam, an Illinois Republican, during a House floor debate before the vote.

By Timothy W. Martin; The Wall Street Journal ~ Feb 11, 2015

A new, controversial funding strategy used by pension funds is gaining steam.

Only in recent years has the climate been favorable for pension plans, mostly at large companies, to offload some of their future pension liabilities to insurers.

To companies, it’s a way to guard against the unknown of dour investing returns or a surge in costs. For insurers, it’s a quick way to add billions of dollars in assets.

Some 21% of corporate pensions are “very or moderately likely” to explore this offloading tactic, where retirees draw their monthly checks from insurers such as Prudential Financial Inc.—instead of their former employers, according to a new report from Aon Hewitt released Wednesday called, “2015 Hot Topics in Retirement.”