By Jon Brodkin; Ars Technia ~  Mar 14, 2016

Customers who sued AT&T over its practice of throttling unlimited data plans will not be able to pursue a class-action lawsuit against the company. AT&T argued that the customers could only have their complaints heard individually in arbitration, and Judge Edward Chen of US District Court in Northern California has sided with the cellular company.

The customers’ contracts with AT&T required them to arbitrate disputes with AT&T on an individual basis. But customers argued that the arbitration cause would violate their First Amendment right to petition a court for a redress of grievances.

By Caroline Humer; Reuters ~ Mar 14, 2016

U.S. spending on prescription drugs rose 5.2 percent in 2015, including the impact of rebates, driven by an 18 percent increase in specialty drugs, Express Scripts Holding Co said on Monday.

Pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts said that use of specialty medicines, which includes the new pricier treatments for hepatitis c, as well as older drugs for rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, rose 7 percent and was coupled with an 11 percent rise in unit cost.

By Jeffrey Young; The Huffington Post~  Mar 14, 201

WASHINGTON — The American health care system is confounding under the best of circumstances. But frustration can reach a boiling point when a patient thinks she’s followed all the rules and still gets hit with a huge surprise bill.

That’s what happened to Lisa Bettendorf in 2012. She had to pay almost $10,000 even though she said the doctors told her their treatment would be covered.

The NRLN has reserved dates for the fall 2016 Fly-In and the spring 2017 Annual Leadership Conference in Washington, DC at the Holiday Inn Capitol Hotel, 550 C Street, SW Washington, DC  20024.  The Fly-In will be Monday, Sept. 25 through Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016.  The Annual Leadership Conference will be Monday, March 13 through Wednesday, March 15, 2017.  (Hopefully, we will avoid any snow storms by moving the spring meeting to March.)

The Holiday Inn Capitol Hotel, the site of our fall 2015 Fly-In, was selected again because the feedback from attendees was positive and the room rate of $259 in Sept.  2016 and $249 in March 2017.

Several weeks before the meetings, you will be reminded of the dates and that reservations can be made online at: http://www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotels/us/en/washington/wassm/hoteldetail?qAdlt=1&qBrs=6c.hi.ex.rs.ic.cp.in.sb.cw.cv.ul.vn&qChld=0&qFRA=1&qGRM=0&qGrpCd=NR7&qPSt=0&qRRSrt=rt&qRef=df&qRms=1&qRpn=1&qRpp=12&qSHp=1&qSmP=3&qSrt=sBR&qWch=0&srb_u=1&icdv=99801505&icdv=99801505 or by calling toll free 1-877-572-6951 and using stating NR7, the NRLN reservations code.

I hope many of you will save this email and plan to join me in Washington, DC in the fall of 2016 and spring of 2017.

Bill Kadereit, President

National Retiree Legislative Network

By Eleanor Laise; Kiplinger ~  March 2016

In retirement, good health is a very costly condition. That’s the conclusion of a new study comparing total health care costs for retirees with various health conditions. While healthy retirees have much lower monthly medical expenses than those with serious conditions such as diabetes or cancer, their longer life expectancies mean that they actually need to save much more to pay health care costs in retirement.

By Melanie Mason; Los Angeles Times ~  Mar 12, 2016

Cathy Kerns expected to spend her retirement savings as her friends do: on cruises or other “golden years” indulgences. Instead, she’s spending her money on pills — 14 medications she takes daily to control multiple sclerosis, lupus and other ailments.

“Many times you find yourself struggling to find the money to try to stay medicated,” said Kerns, 66, a retired advertising executive who lives in Orlando, Fla.

By Elizabeth O’Brien; MarketWatch ~ Mar 11, 2016

Control what you can to avoid or delay entering a care facility

Most Americans want to “age in place,” yet the phrase can be deceiving. It suggests passivity, when successful aging in place involves preparation. And that preparation is best begun in middle age.

About 10% of the U.S. population age 85 and over lived in institutional settings like nursing homes in 2013, according to the Administration on Aging. While plenty of good facilities exist, they’re rarely the first choice of older adults or their families.

By Gail Marksjarvis, CT; The Detroit News ~ Mar 06, 2016

With millions of baby boomers and their children at risk of being devastated by long-term health care costs, a nonpartisan group has announced that it is pushing for a new national universal care policy.

Among the possibilities considered by the Long Term Care Financing Collaborative would be getting employers to automatically enroll their employees in long-term care insurance policies at work, with employees paying regularly toward insurance from each paycheck.

By Conrad De Aenlle; The New York Times ~ Mar 04, 2016

The hard work and long hours you have put in for your employer may have earned you a decent pension. But it may not be your employer who owes you the money.

Companies eager to limit risk and administrative headaches are turning increasingly to a strategy called a pension buyout that involves outsourcing the job of paying out pensions to an insurance companies. The employer pays an amount that represents the pool of money set aside for pension liabilities, and a fee to the insurer for managing the money and taking on the risk of meeting obligations to the retirees.

By David Dayen; The Fiscal Times ~  Mar 04, 2016

Across the political spectrum, people warn of a coming time bomb in our retirement system. Many analysts believe the growing population of retirees will overwhelm the Social Security program, and that something must be done to shore up its finances.

However, there’s another slow-moving time bomb out there, and that’s the gradual retirement of workers in an era where 401(k)-style defined-contribution plans have become dominant, replacing defined-benefit pensions.