Medical Providers Try Uber, Lyft For Patients With Few Transportation Options

By Zhai Yun Tan ; Kaiser Health News ~ Aug 17, 2016

Edith Stowe, 83, waited patiently on a recent afternoon at the bus stop outside MedStar Washington Hospital Center in the District of Columbia. It’s become routine for her, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

Stowe, who lives about five miles from the hospital, comes into the medical center twice every three months to get checkups for chronic kidney failure. She doesn’t own a car and relies on buses.



Rising Health Care Costs Can Eat Up Your Retirement Savings

By Janna Herron; The Fiscal Times ~ Aug 16, 2016

The good news is that Americans are saving more for their golden years. But the task just got harder as a key retirement cost increased this year.

One in five American workers increased their retirement savings from last year, the highest level in five years, according to a new Bankrate.com survey. Only one in 20 haven’t saved at all this year or last year, a new low for the study.



Reimbursement persists as obstacle to telehealth adoption

By Susan D. Hall; FierceHealthcare ~ Aug 16, 2016

Telehealth plays an important role in providing high-quality “anytime, anywhere” healthcare services at lower cost, but a lack of uniform regulations hinders its adoption, according to a brief at Health Affairs.



A Bumpy Economic Ride

By Mortimer B. Zuckerman; US News & World Report ~ Aug 15, 2016

The party is in full swing, noisy and excited, and the crowd outside that was not invited is steeped in resentment – and mystification. How come that at a moment of worryingly slow economic growth, all three stock market indices, for the first time since 1999, achieved a trifecta in the second week of a hot August? Each one went through the roof with record highs on the same day.



Seniors won’t need to text to access Social Security accounts

By “U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging”; KSPR ~ Aug 15, 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following efforts from U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Claire McCaskill, the chairwoman and ranking member of the Senate Aging Committee, seniors will once again be able to access their Social Security accounts online without needing to have a cell phone.



Customers’ Laser-Like Focus On Plan Prices Is Causing Concerns In Health Insurance Market

From KHN Morning Briefing; Kaiser Health News ~ Aug 15, 2016

The continuing rise of premiums is causing some experts to worry that more people will refuse to buy insurance and that could lead to a collapse of the market. Meanwhile, insurers are using a mechanism created by the federal health law to help keep prices down to instead justify their premium increases.



The ‘Big Lie’ Behind the Rosy Unemployment Rate

By David Sirota; Newsweek ~ Aug 14, 2016

This article originally appeared on the International Business Times.

When Donald Trump on Monday questioned the accuracy of the federal government’s glowing employment reports, it may have seemed like another unsubstantiated outburst from a famously loose-with-the-facts candidate.



Four Freedoms That Will Define The Future Of Aging

From Jo Ann Jenkins, Next Avenue; Forbes ~ Aug 14, 2016

(This article is the 13th in a weekly Next Avenue series, The Future of Aging: Realizing the Potential of Longevity, published by the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging. Links to the rest of the series appear at the end of this article.)

On Jan. 6, 1941, the eve of the United States’ entry into World War II, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood before a joint session of Congress to deliver his annual State of the Union address. In that speech, Roosevelt argued for an end to the isolationist policies that grew out of World War I and offered a new ideology based on Four Freedoms: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom From Want, and Freedom From Fear.



Where Trump and Clinton Stand on Health Care and Medicare

By Emily Gurnon; Next Avenue ~ Aug 12, 2016

Part of the Election 2016 Special Report

(This is the second in a series of Next Avenue blog posts on where presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton stand on key issues of interest to Americans over 50. The first article was about where Trump and Clinton stand on Social Security.)



Senior surprise: Getting switched with little warning into Medicare Advantage

By Susan Jaffe, Washington Post – July 26, 2016

Only days after Judy Hanttula came home from the hospital after surgery last November, her doctor’s office called with bad news: Records showed that instead of traditional Medicare, she had a private Medicare Advantage plan, and her doctor and hospital were not in its network.

Neither the plan nor Medicare now would cover her medical costs. She owed $16,622.





Archives by Category:



Reminder to Members

Please notify us at: E-mail if you change your contact information, particularly your e-mail address so you continue to receive information from us.



Healthcare reform act passed by congress. It explains just about everything one would want to know about the new law and outlines when certain provisions become effective.