From Tomas Philipson; Forbes ~ Oct 06, 2016
The drug industry often claims that high prices are due to its high R&D costs, while industry critics argue that lower prices will not cut R&D. The evidence is clear that both sides are wrong and these arguments should be eliminated from the policy debate. Prices drive R&D spending, not vice versa.
By Alicia H. Munnell; The Washington Post ~ Oct 06, 2016
What should the next president do to make Social Security more sustainable?
Alicia H. Munnell is the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and the Peter F. Drucker professor of management sciences at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. In the 1990s, Munnell served as assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy and as a member of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers.
By Jerome Golden; Forbes ~ Oct 05, 2016
In the retirement plans and other savings of every unsuspecting investor resides a surprise package from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that could blow up your retirement planning process. I call it a “tax bomb.”
Jonathan Fielding ; US News & World Report ~ Oct 05, 2016
Whenever I am outside, I carry two EpiPens. If a bee stings me, the pens could save my life. I was recently stung, but not by a bee. The sting came from Mylan pharmaceuticals when it raised the retail price of a two pack of EpiPens from about $100 to more than $600 dollars over nine years. According to Money magazine, each EpiPen costs about $30 to produce.
By Marilynn Marchione; The Associated Press ~ Oct 05, 2016
Going to the right hospital for heart attack care could add a year to your life, a new study suggests.
Using Medicare records, researchers found that roughly 17 years after a heart attack, average life expectancy was 9 to 14 months longer for patients who had been treated at hospitals that do best on widely used quality measures than for those treated at low-rated ones.
By Mary Beth Franklin; InvestmentNews ~ Sep 26, 2016
Social Security benefits are expected to increase slightly next year, and most retirees who have their Medicare premiums deducted directly from their Social Security benefits will be protected from a net decline in monthly benefits.
By Kerry Hannon; MarketWatch ~ Sep 22, 2016
This article is reprinted by permission from NextAvenue.org.
One problem with being a retiree on a fixed income — it’s a fixed income. But living costs rise with inflation, so you’ll want your investment income to do so, too.
How can you? I’ve talked with a few smart financial advisers and will share four of their suggestions.
I realize inflation, overall, isn’t much to worry about at the moment.
From Bruce Japsen; Forbes ~ Sep 21, 2016
The nation’s doctors, facing a tsunami of changes in how they are paid, plan to retire in droves as value-based pay replaces fee-for-service medicine and they are forced to implement more new regulations, according to a new report.
By Anthony Cirillo ; The Huffington Post ~ Sep 19, 2016
Our senior citizens are often the most vulnerable to identity theft, which can damage reputations and wipe out life savings in an instant. A Met Life Mature Market Institute review of Senior Identity Theft estimates that elderly victims lose $2.9 billion annually to fraud. And those numbers will rise as the senior population grows.
The Associated Press ~ Sep 19, 2016
The Obama administration is publishing new rules that promise to help doctors and patients learn if clinical trials of treatments worked or not.
At issue is how to help people find medical studies that may be appropriate for them – and then to make the results public so that successes can reach patients more quickly and what fails isn’t duplicated.
