By Alan Breznick; Light Reading ~ Oct 23, 2014

Despite the FCC’s pause of its review of AT&T’s proposed purchase of DirecTV, AT&T officials are not panicking, at least not yet.

The FCC stopped its informal “shot clock” for reviewing the $48.5 billion deal Wednesday, along with its similar review of Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK)’s proposed $45 billion buyout of Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC). The Commission cited strong concerns that media companies have expressed about permitting even limited public access to their closely held programming contracts with the four pay-TV providers.

Speaking on his company’s third-quarter earnings call with analysts late yesterday, AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) CFO John Stephens said AT&T remains confident that the Commission will approve its purchase of DirecTV Group Inc. (NYSE: DTV) sometime before next July, enabling them to close the deal shortly thereafter. “It doesn’t change our view that we’ll be able to get the deal approved and closed in the first half of 2015,” he said in response to an analyst question. “We’re still optimistic about the transaction.”

By Mark Miller; Reuters ~ Oct 23, 2014

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Social Security’s annual inflation adjustment is one of the program’s most valuable features. But it’s time to adjust the adjustment.

Retirees will get a 1.7 percent bump in their Social Security benefit next year, according to the Social Security Administration, which announced the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) on Wednesday. Recipients of disability benefits and Supplemental Security Income also will receive the COLA.

That reflects continuing slow inflation in the economy – the COLA has averaged 1.6 percent over the past four years – but it’s not enough to keep up with the higher inflation retirees face.

By Ashlea Ebeling; Forbes ~ Oct 23, 2014

The Treasury Department has announced inflation-adjusted figures for retirement account savings for 2015, and this year there’s extra room for savings for wage and salary types and the self-employed. If you have a 401(k), a SEP-IRA, or a SIMPLE, pay attention and if you can swing it, bump up your contributions to the new max. You can stuff $18,000–or $24,000 if you’re 50 or older–into a 401(k), for example. Here are the details.

By Tucker Sutherland; Senior Journal ~ Oct 17, 2014

Oct. 17, 2014 – The last time we got a report on poverty in the U.S., which was just weeks ago, senior citizens seemed to be doing pretty well. Although the “official poverty” report said 4.2 million seniors lived in poverty, the rate was flat with 2013. Now, the Census Bureau has reported a different look, called the “supplemental poverty rate” and a few million more seniors have dropped below the poverty rate.

By Christopher Flavelle; Bloomberg Businessweek ~ Oct 16, 2014

President Obama said in an Oct. 2 speech at Northwestern University that the middle class is squeezed by stagnant wages, slow job growth, and ever-higher college tuition. A recent report shows that U.S. workers also are getting squeezed because they’re being pushed into inadequate retirement plans by the country’s largest employers.

A survey released last month by Towers Watson (TW), the employee benefit consultant, illustrates how rapidly the defined-benefit plan—the traditional pension that guarantees workers an annual income after they retire—has moved from the norm at Fortune 500 companies to all but extinct. In 1998 just more than half offered new hires a defined-benefit plan; by 2013 that had fallen to 7 percent. That trend continues: According to Towers Watson, at least three of the 34 Fortune 500 companies that offered defined-benefit plans to new hires last year won’t do so this year.

By Donna Fuscaldo; Fox Business ~ Oct 14, 2014

Your care isn’t the only thing that can suffer if you choose the wrong doctor. It can also cost you a lot of money if you make the incorrect choice.

Millions of Americans will be getting new health insurance next year, prompting many to look for doctors. Choosing any in-network primary care physician is the easy and often common way to do it, but asking questions before making your choice can save you a ton of money as well as improve your level of care.

“There’s a relative shortage of primary care physicians as a result of the Affordable Care Act,” says Tom Doerr, an internist in St. Louis and director of innovation research at medical technology company Lumeris www.lumeris.com. “You don’t want to sign up for a primary care physician only to discover the next appointment is six weeks from now.”

By Michael Kitces; The Wall Street Journal ~ Oct 13, 2014

MICHAEL KITCES: Implicit in the typical retirement images of walks on the beach, exotic travel, playing golf and other various forms of leisure activity, is that the whole goal of retirement is to do all of those activities and none of the one that most of us do right up to that point: work. Certainly, many people aren’t particularly happy with their jobs and the work that they do, and really can’t wait to get away from it all.

By Glenn Ruffenach; MarketWatch ~ Oct 13, 2014

About 320,000 ‘Advantage’ customers need to find a new plan

Two new health-care analyses can help Medicare beneficiaries navigate—and, ideally, benefit from—the program’s annual open-enrollment period, which starts Wednesday. The analyses are worth paying attention to, because some Medicare enrollees will face significant changes.

The Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit that specializes in health-policy analysis, last week published two papers that look at changes in, first, Medicare Advantage plans and, second, Part D prescription-drug plans.

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar & Jennifer Agiesta; The Associated Press ~ Oct 13, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) — They have health insurance, but still no peace of mind. Overall, 1 in 4 privately insured adults say they doubt they could pay for a major unexpected illness or injury.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research may help explain why President Barack Obama faces such strong headwinds in trying to persuade the public that his health care law is holding down costs.

Ma Bell announces a trio of options for users who plan to use their mobile devices abroad.

By Scott Webster; CNET ~ Oct 13, 2014

AT&T on Monday announced new options for customers who expect to take their smartphones to with them to select international markets. The program, called Passport, includes three one-time purchase alternatives to the carrier’s recurring Global packages.

Ranging from $30 to $120, the three bundles are good for a 30-day window and include unlimited messaging and AT&T Wi-Fi. The difference comes in determining how much data or talk time is anticipated in the time frame.