Denee Mallon, 74-year-old transgender woman, has become the first person to receive gender reassignment surgery on a government Medicare plan. From her hospital bed in Chicago Mallon said, “Here I am, finally, after all these years. It happened.” NBC News reported that her operation will be one of the first paid for by Medicare after…
When Rep. Paul Ryan releases a new economic plan, I am typically left to wonder if he is on something. With his new plan for helping the poor, however, I think he might be onto something. Not the idea that poor people need a nanny to help them pull it together, mind you. That’s demeaningly…
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has launched the first phase of a sweeping nationwide paid effort – “Battleground: Middle Class” – to communicate with voters in California’s 52nd district that Carl DeMaio’s new Republican budget is selling out the middle class in favor of special interests and the ultra-wealthy. The Battleground: Middle Class project will…
Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is now able to process requests for Medicare Part A and Part B Special Enrollment Periods, and reductions in Part B and premium Part A late enrollment penalties for certain eligible people in same-sex marriages. This is another step…
Despite the current respite from the government shutdown and near default, we aren’t really much closer to a real budget deal. House Republicans want to keep discretionary spending at the slashed levels of the sequester and decrease the deficit through cuts to entitlements like Medicare and Social Security. President Obama wants to ease the sequester…
Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a memo clarifying that all beneficiaries in private Medicare plans have access to equal coverage when it comes to care in a nursing home where their spouse lives. This is the first guidance issued by HHS in response to the recent Supreme Court ruling, which…
There are some big changes that occur for 50-years-olds. Of course, there is the gray hair (if you have any left) and larger mid-section. But you also have some different rules for saving for retirement. We’ll get to those in a second. First, we need to talk about the big picture. Your 50s is the…
WASHINGTON — Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision striking down a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Social Security and Medicare benefits may soon be available to same-sex couples in the District of Columbia and the 13 states recognizing same-sex marriage. June 26, in United States v. Windsor, the Supreme Court ruled Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional, finding…
