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DID
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ANNOUNCEMENT-
August 2008 After carefully reading the positions on Senior issues
put forward by Mr. Obama, and Mr. McCain, SeniorArk.com is about to
endorse a candidate. We are mostly concerned about their statements on
Social Security and Medicare, but also on energy and national
security. Remember, the purpose of this site is advocacy for the needs
of Seniors. Our plan is to endorse Barack Obama before August ends.
But we are willing to be swayed -- or bolstered, in our opinion.
Please email your comments to
PresOpinion@aol.com. We will publish your comments, unless you
request otherwise, if they are constructive to the discussion of
Senior concerns in the election. This may well be the most important
election Seniors have seen in a generation. Please give us your
opinion.
Reader Opinions
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RICHARD VIGUERIE:
BUSH WHITE HOUSE HIDES TRUE SCOPE OF FEDERAL DEFICIT
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Added August 27, 2008
The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of
ConservativeHQ.com, regarding the White House projection of a $482
billion deficit for Fiscal Year 2009:
"The White House has issued figures
indicating that President Bush and his enablers in Congress will
leave his successor with a budget deficit of $482 Billion for Fiscal
Year 2009, which is a record. How's that for a legacy?
"As shocking as this deficit figure
is, that's still not the true scope of our budget woes because it
excludes $80 billion in war costs and $227 billion borrowed from
the Social Security Trust Fund.
"The real budget deficit is therefore
$789 billion.
"Under accounting trickery that would
probably land the top officers of a publicly traded company in jail,
the money borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund -- and spent
on anything and everything except Social Security payments -- is not
counted towards the budget deficit, although it is part of our $9.49
Trillion National Debt.
Read entire article.
NEW STUDY
EXAMINES IMPACT OF DOUGHNUT HOLE IN 2007
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August 22, 2008 A new report by the Kaiser Family
Foundation quantifies the number of Medicare Part D plan enrollees who
reached the "doughnut hole," the gap in their prescription drug
coverage, in 2007. The study of Part D prescription drug utilization
found that 26% of Part D enrollees who filled any prescriptions in
2007 reached the gap. This includes 22% who stayed in the gap for the
remainder of the year, and 4% who ultimately received catastrophic
coverage. Applying this estimate to the entire population of Part D
enrollees, the analysis suggests that about 3.4 million beneficiaries,
or 14% of all Part D enrollees, reached the coverage gap and faced the
full cost of their prescriptions in 2007. Conducted by researchers at
Georgetown University, the University of Chicago and Kaiser, the study
found evidence of patients changing their use of prescription drugs
when they were in the coverage gap. Across eight classes of drugs
examined, 15% of Part D enrollees who reached the gap stopped their
drug therapy for that condition, 5% switched to another medication in
the class, and 1% reduced the number of drugs they were taking in the
class. The standard Part D benefit in 2008 has a $275 deductible and
25% coinsurance, up to an initial coverage limit of $2,510 in total
drug costs, followed by a coverage gap where enrollees pay all of the
next $3,216 in drug costs. After reaching that limit, beneficiaries
pay 5% of any additional drug costs. For 2007, these amounts were
slightly lower. The study also found that people who reached the gap
paid
the full cost of their medications, without any help from their Part D
plan, for an average of just over four months, and received
catastrophic coverage for less than one month. The study analyzed
retail pharmacy claims data, based on 4.5 million Medicare
beneficiaries in Part D plans in 2007, the first year that most people
were enrolled in a Part D plan for a full calendar year. The report,
The Medicare Part D Coverage
Gap: Costs and Consequences in 2007,
is available online at
http://www.kff.org/medicare/7811.cfm. If Medicare were able
to use its negotiating power to strike a better deal with drug
companies, not nearly as many people would be in the doughnut hole.
Also Read
Surviving the Doughnut Hole
and
Does
Part "D" Make Sense for Me?
RETIREES MAY
SEE A HUGE INCREASE IN BENEFITS
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August 18, 2008
Senior citizens should look forward to a major
increase in Social Security benefits next year.
Unless there is a sudden rush of deflation in the
current quarter, the increase will be the largest
in 25 years. That's right: the largest in 25
years. Last year, the increase was a very pinched
2.3 percent, and this year had been predicted to
be only 2.8%. Indeed, there hasn't been an
increase over 5 percent since 1990. Just how big
will the increase be? The month of July shows that
inflation continues to roar. So if you feel that
prices have been running ahead of you, you are
correct.
Remember, the
January adjustment is never an actual raise, only
a way of hopefully staying even.
Investigate further.
WORKER PENSIONS
RAIDED FOR EXECUTIVE BENEFITS
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August 8, 2008 Just when you thought the greed and outrageous
behavior of corporate America could get no worse, the leaders of
companies have sunk to a new low: they are using workers' pension
money to fund CEO pension. No this is not a joke. An August 3, 2008,
Wall Street Journal article states:
At a time when scores of
companies are freezing pensions for their workers, some
are quietly converting their pension plans into
resources to finance their executives' retirement
benefits and pay.
In recent years, companies
from Intel Corp. to CenturyTel Inc. collectively have
moved hundreds of millions of dollars of obligations for
executive benefits into rank-and-file pension plans.
This lets companies capture tax breaks intended for
pensions of regular workers and use them to pay for
executives' supplemental benefits and compensation.
The practice has drawn
scant notice. A close examination by The Wall Street
Journal shows how it works and reveals that the
maneuver, besides being a dubious use of tax law, risks
harming regular workers. It can drain assets from
pension plans and make them more likely to fail. Now,
with the current bear market in stocks weakening many
pension plans, this practice could put more in jeopardy.
Read more at the Huffington Post
DID YOU KNOW...
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August 8, 2008 According to
the U.S. Census Bureau, La Paz County, Arizona is the county that has
the nation's oldest population, with 32% of its residents 65 years of
age or older (USA Today). The county is located on the California
border and is home to the Colorado River Indian Reservation. Florida
is the state with the largest over-65 population; 2,808,000, or 17.6%
of its residents.
WHAT IS WITH THE OIL
PRICES? BE VERY SUSPICIOUS.
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August 8, 2008 We are
happy, but very suspicious, of the dramatic drop in oil prices over
the
past two weeks. The world is still growing. Americans, though more
cautious about their driving, show little interest in packing in the
car(s). Our refineries are still limited in their ability to increase
production. There is fear that Israel may make a preemptive strike on
the nuclear efforts of Iran, thus throwing the oil supply into a pit.
Earlier this week, a tropical storm formed in the Gulf of Mexico oil
fields, and oil production platforms were evacuated for fear of severe
damage. Today the Russians have attacked the rebels in Georgia,
threatening major oil supply lines. A month ago, any of these events,
or fear of them, would have sent the price of oil into the
stratosphere. And yet now, at the close of business on August 8,
2008, oil is down over $30 a barrel from its high of just a couple
weeks ago.
So what is going on? Why is oil dropping
in the face of these realities? Indeed, this is a very complicated
issue. There may be multiple reasons. But even a commentator on CNBC
said on August 4, "It is very curious."
This I do know. We are approaching an
election that could affect the oil industry to the tune of
MANY BILLIONS, OR TRILLIONS of $$$. Obama is talking about windfall
oil profits taxes to benefit the American people in the form of a
$1,000 per family energy rebate. He has also proposed a Kennedy-like
program on alternative energy similar to the man-on-the moon effort.
These are not messages the oil industry wants to hear. It is
SeniorArk's suspicion that the oil companies are capable of
manipulating prices now, to save vastly more money in the future. This
could be a thinly-veiled effort to influence the election, so they can
remain unfettered in their pursuit of record profits. You know it is
possible. If you look back at the record, it DID happen
just
before the 2006 elections. But, is it so? We wonder, and have
suspicions.
Robert Fassbach, Editor,
www.SeniorArk.com
email:
seniorark@aol.com
Reader, C. Chapman adds to above:
"Believe none of what you hear and half of what you
see"
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AUGUST 1, 2008 Seniors are
especially at risk in high heat situations. Large stretches of
the USA are
experiencing extreme temperatures at the moment. Caregivers need to
check on the elderly. If you live in another city, call the police
department, or someone you know, to check on your loved one. Check on
your friends and neighbors, and don't automatically accept, "Oh I'm
OK". Read
article. You might also like to read:
How to Keep Your House Cooler , or
Save on Summer Cooling , or perhaps
Senior Citizens and
Water; How Much
Water Do I Need?
JOHN MCCAIN, SOCIAL
SECURITY IS NOT "A DISGRACE"
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July 29, 2008 Speaking at a
town hall meeting earlier this month in Denver, Sen. McCain said,
"Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day
retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And
that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be
fixed." Yet, media accounts reveal that despite McCain's views toward
Social Security, and despite his $100-million-plus family fortune, he
received $23,157 in Social Security benefits in 2007, an average of
$1,929.75 each month. Every dollar was from payroll taxes paid by
young workers in America. Perhaps Mr. McCain would be interested in
returning all of those checks he has received on the backs of today's
workers.
Forty-two million Americans receive
Social Security benefits
- these are our nation's elderly, our widows and widowers, and our
young children who have seen a parent die. Helping them is not a
disgrace. For years, senators have raided the Social Security Trust
Fund to keep the government running. Rather than tax enough to pay the
bills, they have printed money. and taken billions from seniors'
future. And now this senator calls the Social Security System a
"disgrace". Incredible!
Added August 1, 2008 Sen. McCain
has hired Martin Feldstein as his economic adviser. Feldstein is the
father of the misguided proposal to privatize Social Security. In
2005, The San Francisco Chronicle quoted Feldstein as saying, "I've
always been opposed to Social Security. I think it's a very unethical
program." Such quotes echo John McCain's recent statements on Social
Security, in which he called the system 'an absolute disgrace.' Many
seniors would have lost thousands in the stock market in recent years
if privatization had been in effect.
Read:
John McCain supports privatizing Social Security.
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SENIOR ACTION REQUIRED
ARE YOU FALLING INTO
THE DOUGHNUT HOLE?
15 ways you can survive a fall into
that dreaded abyss
August 27, 2008
Yes, Part "D" is a bizarre system, crafted by a
slight-of-hand Congress, mostly written by the
drug and insurance companies. Yes it can be
overwhelming to the Senior who needs more than a minimal amount of
medication each year. But do not despair. There are specific things
you can do today to survive this convoluted program, and the
doughnut hole
at its center.
Read
Complete Article
MANY ELIGIBLE
LOW-INCOME SENIORS NOT APPLYING FOR PART D SUBSIDY
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Congressional
Budget Office have estimated, respectively, that about 2.6 million to
over 4 million individuals who may qualify for the Medicare
prescription drug low-income subsidy are not receiving it. Various
barriers, such as reluctance to disclose personal financial
information or lack of knowledge of the subsidy, may prevent
potentially eligible Medicare beneficiaries from applying for the
subsidy. To view the highlights of the report, go to: http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08812thigh.pdf
. To see if you qualify, or to apply, go to:
https://s044a90.ssa.gov/apps6z/i1020/main.html
Also see:
Latest Health News , Latest
Medicare News , Latest
Social Security News
SCAM ARTISTS ARE HARD
AT WORK
Seniors, be very careful with your
computers. Scam artists send a constant flow of bogus and dangerous
requests. Just today, I have received 5 overseas emails offering me
millions if I will just contact them about something. It might be a
business offer, a lottery, a long lost relative who has left me a
fortune, or some other enticing offer. I have also received, almost on
a daily basis, notices that the IRS has a sum of money to refund to
me. Don't fall for any of it. Their ultimate goal is to take your
money, and give you nothing but an empty bank account. They use actual
company, or bank, or IRS logos that look totally real. Never give out
account numbers, Social Security numbers, or anything else to an
unsolicited request.
The same goes for mail or phone
solicitations. Give them nothing. Call their parent organization to
see if a request is real. You have not won a prize or money. There is
no inheritance. Ebay does not have a demand for cash or clarification
of an order. You do not need to deal with
bank fraud online, or on the
phone---unless you have called your bank. Be safe.
IRS STILL
REACHING OUT TO MILLIONS OF POTENTIAL STIMULUS CHECK RECIPIENTS
he
Internal Revenue Service has issued over 76 million checks together
worth $63.8 billion to Americans eligible for economic stimulus
payments; however, the delivery of payments to retirees and disabled
veterans remains incomplete. To issue a payment, the IRS needs to have
a person's 2007 income tax return. There are 20 million retirees and
disabled veterans who do not normally file tax returns because their
benefits are not taxable. The IRS has successfully contacted 74% of
this elusive group, but 5.2 million retirees and disabled veterans
have yet to send in the necessary information to the IRS. Later this
summer, the IRS will send out a special letter containing information
on stimulus payment eligibility and how to claim it, a sample tax
form, and a real tax form that can be filled out and mailed back to
the IRS. People who would not normally file a tax return should file
Form 1040A. Recipients must have $3,000
in qualifying income, which includes certain types of Social Security
and Veteran Affairs benefits. It is not too late to file your 2007
income taxes and get a stimulus check. Do you know a Senior who
may not have filed a 2007 tax return? Ask them. Churches--put it in
the bulletin. Senior Centers--post it.
Newspapers--Headline it.
Read
complete article |