From Austin Frakt; The New York Times ~ Oct 30, 2017
Last month, as Republican leaders were preoccupied with another unsuccessful attempt to replace Obamacare, a senior Trump administration official issued a warning about a different major medical program, Medicare.
By Sarah O’Brien; CNBC ~ Oct 27, 2017
• Criminals want to get their hands on your personal information to defraud Medicare or steal your identity.
• Older Americans tend to lose more per reported fraud than younger consumers.
• If you’re called unsolicited and asked for your personal information, it’s a red flag.
As older Americans sort through their options during Medicare open enrollment, they might discover an unwanted complication: fraudsters.
From Dr. Kevin A. Schulman; The Hill ~ Oct 26, 2017
We are fortunate to live in an era of tremendous medical advances. In the last few weeks alone, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved breakthrough products for pediatric cancer, a rare form of blindness, and now adult non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
From Robert A. Green; Forbes ~ Oct 25, 2017
October through December is an excellent time to consider year-end tax planning moves to save taxes for 2017. Once tax season gets underway in Q1 2018, it’s too late for these smart ideas.
As tax reform advances through Congress, it’s safe to assume your tax rates may be lower in 2018 and some of your expenses will likely be repealed to pay for tax rate cuts. It’s probably wise to use the time-honored strategy of deferring income and accelerating payments to deduct them while you can.
By Will Boggs MD; Reuters ~ Oct 24, 2017
(Reuters Health) – Robotic-assisted surgery is much more expensive than other minimally invasive surgeries, but it does not improve outcomes of surgery for kidney tumors and rectal cancers.
”The rapid increase in costly robot surgery in lieu of laparoscopic surgery without a definite advantage for the patient is a problem that can be applied not only to the urological field but also to the entire surgical field,” Dr. In Gab Jeong from University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea told Reuters Health by email.
From Robin Seaton Jefferson; Forbes ~ Oct 23, 2017
Non-medication-based sleep habits are the first choice for improving sleep in older people.
The statement comes from Dr. Preeti Malani, MD, director of the National Poll on Healthy Aging Team, chief health officer and professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Michigan.
By Hazel Bradford; Pensions & Investments ~ Oct 18, 2017
The three pillars of the American retirement system — Social Security, workplace retirement plans and individual savings — will not provide adequate retirement security for a growing number of people, according to a report issued Wednesday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Part of the risk, the report said, comes from federal programs like Social Security, which is projected to be unable to pay full benefits by 2035, and “substantial liabilities” of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’ multiemployer program.
By Lauren Cahn; Reader’s Digest ~ Undated
Equifax Breach 101
Just when you were getting all excited because your credit score went up, THIS happened: 143 million Americans were impacted by a significant data breach at Equifax, which is one of the nation’s three major credit reporting agencies, says Seena Gressin, an attorney with the Division of Consumer & Business Education with the United States Federal Trade Commission (the FTC).
By Sarah O’Brien; CNBC ~ Oct 16, 2017
It happens during Medicare open enrollment every year: Older Americans’ mailboxes and TV screens fill up with pitches for enrolling in Medicare-related insurance.
If you call the number on the ad, you’ll likely end up talking to a licensed insurance agent. The bad news is that if the person works exclusively for one insurer, you could be stuck for a whole year with a policy that’s inappropriate for you.
From Scott Spann, FF ; Forbes ~ Oct 15, 2017
Are you confident that your investments are well positioned to help you reach your financial life goals? This can be a difficult question to answer if you do not have a written action plan already in place to help provide guidance for your investment decisions. While the overall mood of investors has improved dramatically since the Great Recession, many investors still lack confidence that their asset allocation is appropriate for their age and risk tolerance.
