Search results for: herb weiss
Modest Social Security COLA increase seen as chump change by some – Herb Weiss
By Herb Weiss, contributing writer on aging issues Last week, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for more than 71 million beneficiaries will increase 3.2% in 2024, about $59 per month starting in January. The 2024 payment declined from last year’s 8.7%, but that had been the…
Read MoreWill Magaziner fulfill call to reestablish House Aging Committee? – Herb Weiss
by Herb Weiss, contributing writer on aging issues With Congressman David Cicilline retiring from Congress, no House lawmaker has yet stepped up to reintroduce, H.R. 583, the Rhode Island lawmaker’s resolution to reestablish the House Select Committee on Aging (HSCoA). Without receiving a vote in the House Rules Committee at the end of the 117th Congress, the resolution…
Read MoreAARP report: States’ care for seniors “painfully inadquate”. Major gaps in RI – Herb Weiss
By Herb Weiss, contributing writer Last week, the Washington, DC-based AARP released its latest Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Scorecard, calling care provided to seniors and persons with disabilities during the last three years after the COVID-19 pandemic “painfully inadequate.” This nine-page report detailed state specific data, finds major gaps in providing care in every state, including…
Read MoreIncreased funding must be tied to nursing home mandated minimum staffing – Herb Weiss
Increased funding must be tied to mandated minimum staffing – Herb Weiss By Herb Weiss, contributing writer on aging issues The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule to establish comprehensive staffing requirements for nursing homes—including, for the first time, national minimum nurse staffing standards. The proposed rule seeks to would ratchet up…
Read MoreThe Village helps grandparent/kinship caregivers in need – Herb Weiss
By Herb Weiss, contributing writer on aging issues When we dream about our retirement years, these dreams most likely don’t include images of diapers, children’s tantrums, and school buses. However, for some grandparents and other kinship caregivers, their later years include these images, as they become primary caregivers for their grandchildren/kin children. Nationally, more than 2.5…
Read MoreAge Wave study sees shift in how nation perceives aging – Herb Weiss
By Herb Weiss, contributing writer on aging issues “Old Age” enters a new age. That’s how Age Wave sees it after releasing its new Harris Poll results, revealing that the graying of America is shifting how the nation views growing old and its perception on longevity, health, retirement and sense of purpose. “Everywhere we turn in American culture…
Read MoreMedicare to negotiate select drug prices with Big Pharma, lists first 10 drugs. – Herb Weiss
By Herb Weiss, contributing writer on aging issues While critics are attempting to go through the courts to put the brakes on allowing Medicare to negotiate and set drug prices, last week, the Biden administration announced its list of 10 drugs that will be subject to price negotiations mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). …
Read MoreCombating loneliness and isolation in nursing facilities – Herb Weiss
By Herb Weiss, contributing writer on aging issues Almost four months ago, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released an 81-page advisory report titled “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,” putting a spotlight on a troubling national problem, the growing incidence of loneliness caused by isolation in our society. The nation’s chief advocate for public health…
Read MoreHealth advocacy groups oppose groups against drug price negotiations – Herb Weiss
by Herb Weiss, contributing writer on aging issues As supporters of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) celebrate the one-year anniversary of the passage of this historic legislation, health advocacy groups gathered last week in Austin, Texas, Washington, D.C., Chicago and New York City to publicly oppose and call on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Pharmaceutical Research and…
Read MoreWake up call on spiraling brand-name drug prices – Herb Weiss
By Herb Weiss, contributing writer on aging issues A new pharmaceutical drug price report that is both timely and overdue has been released by AARP’s Public Policy Institute, following on the heels of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) releasing in June, which revised guidance for the historic Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. …
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