Bill’s Articles
NRLN President’s Forum Social Security COLA Will Be 2.8% for 2026 The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced on Friday, October 24, there would be a 2.8% Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2026. SSA normally announces the COLA on October 15 but was delayed due to the federal government shutdown. The COLA increase for January will add about $56 to an average…
Watch for Your Medicare Annual Notice of Change If you have a Medicare Advantage (MA) and/or you purchase your own Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, you should receive an Annual Notices of Change (ANOC) letter or email. DO NOT IGNORE IT. The ANOC provides a detailed summary of all of the changes to your MA plan or Part D plan in…
Enrollment in the privatized Medicare Advantage plans only increased 3.8% overall from February 2024 to February 2025. If enrollment remains at that level throughout 2025, it will be the lowest for MA since 2007, based on an analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS). A major reason for the slower growth is that heading into the…
Retirees Cheated: Federal Law And NAIC Regulations Ignored The election is over, the $2,000 prescription drug cap is in place but plan D premiums, deductions, and copays in 2025 may be significantly higher. We will report on details later. We are set to lobby for reinsurance protection for derisked pension plans. Also, we are not confident that attacks on Social…
November 28 Is an Important Date, Not Only for This Thanksgiving As we know, this year Thanksgiving Day is on November 28. Since there has been a great deal in the news about Artificial Intelligence (AI), I decided to give it a try. I asked AI: What has happened in history on November 28th? Over a dozen responses pop up.…
An analysis in the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Internal Medicine on June 10 concluded: “We think the time has come to declare MA [Medicare Advantage] a failed experiment and abolish it. That would allow redeploying the $88 billion taxpayers will overpay MA this year to upgrade benefits for all Medicare beneficiaries.” READ THE ANALYSIS The conclusion was…
NRLN President’s ForumBy Bill Kadereit The week of March 18-22 was a very good week for the NRLN – a winner. Sometimes our wins are small and they don’t always affect “me” but in our NRLN world, we appreciate every one of them. While this year Social Security and Medicare are at risk and while we have a battle to…
Medicare provides an enrollment period, October 15 – December 7, 2023, that allows beneficiaries to request changes in their original Medicare, Medicare Advantage (MA) and/or prescription drug plans. Most people sign up for both Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) Part B (medical insurance) or a MA plan during a period starting three months before turning age 65 and ending three…
Michael Calabrese, NRLN Senior Policy Advisor, who researched and wrote the NRLN/AREF white paper on Pension Plan ‘De-Risking’: Strengthening Fiduciary Duties to Protect Retirees testified on July 18 before the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Advisory Council. The 15-member council hears testimony, discusses retirement issues and presents recommendations to the Secretary of Labor regarding ERISA. I testified before the…
The 175-member Republican Study Committee a report for Fiscal Year 2024 Budget on June 14. It is filled with “political speak.” What it means that is important to retirees are: — An effort to terminate Medicare as we know it. The proposal recommends a “premium support” plan that would subsidize seniors for private insurance options that would compete with traditional…
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