Free Republic

Military retirees are getting "screwed" by a budget deal expected to pass the Senate on Wednesday, said Sen. Lindsey Graham. "Is the choice between keeping the government open and screwing all the military retirees? Is that that right choice?" said Graham, Republican from South Carolina.

Starting Jan. 1, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin slashing 14 percent of their Home Health Care Prospective Payment Program budget, driving small home health-care providers out of business and potentially affecting millions of poor, elderly citizens in need of physical rehabilitation. The cuts — which are being made to fund Obamacare — will slash the homecare budget 3.5 percent every year for the next four. “By CMS’s own calculation, 40 percent or nearly 5,000 home health companies — mainly small businesses — will experience a “net loss” in revenue due to the cuts and go...

LOS ANGELES — After 20 years in the US military, James Cummiskey was divorced and looking for a change. Relenting to his buddy's request, he flew to Medellín, Colombia, for a visit. He looked, he saw, and, by dinner time, he decided to stay. Permanently. "After four to five hours, I was immediately captured by everything I saw," says the ex-marine, who has lived in 35 countries. He spent the next four months selling two homes, three vehicles, two motorcycles, and one airplane. He put the money aside and decided to retire early. Now he lives in a posh section...

Rarely does an investigative report manage to unite industry executives, academics, and regulators in such a way as the recent Frontline/ProPublica Life and Death in Assisted Living. Unfortunately for the producers and writers, they have united all three elements in expressing how their report misrepresented the industry. The Frontline show originally aired on July 30, 2013, on PBS for one hour, and the accompanying four-part series written by A.C. Thompson (who hosted and co-produced the Frontline show) appeared concurrently in ProPublica. They claim to have spent over a year on the project. It is unclear when they developed their...

One of the reasons for being glad to be as old as I am is that I may be spared living to see a race war in America. Race wars are often wars in which nobody wins and everybody ends up much worse off than they were before. Initial skirmishes in that race war have already begun, and have in fact been going on for some years. But public officials pretend that it is not happening, and the mainstream media seldom publish it at all, except in ways that conceal what is really taking place. For American society, a dangerous...

“So here’s the deal: since 1993 there has been a federal law requiring states to recover at least some of the costs of Medicaid-covered medical care for anyone 55 years old and up, from the estates of those covered. States enforce this law, with their own laws and policies added in, differently in every state. But the general principle is there. Up until now the usual consequence has been things like this: Medicaid puts a lien on the house of someone in a nursing facility who has run out of money, and after they die, the heirs find they have...

Let the blame game begin over ObamaCare’s oversights. The nation’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealthcare, claims the Affordable Care Act is responsible for forcing it to boot doctors from its Medicare Advantage program that serves thousands of elderly patients in the New York metro region. CEO Jack Larsen, under fire for separating seniors from their MDs, took out full-page ads to explain that cuts in Medicare spending forced the ­insurer’s hand. “We are working to collaborate with a more focused network of physicians to help us provide higher quality and more affordable health care coverage to meet the needs of our...

Let the blame game begin over ObamaCare’s oversights. The nation’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealthcare, claims the Affordable Care Act is responsible for forcing it to boot doctors from its Medicare Advantage program that serves thousands of elderly patients in the New York metro region. CEO Jack Larsen, under fire for separating seniors from their MDs, took out full-page ads to explain that cuts in Medicare spending forced the ­insurer’s hand.

Retired chemist Edward Schokowitz was incredulous when he received a letter from Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey early last month saying his Medicare Advantage Plan, which had no premium, would be eliminated next year.“They took all the senior citizens and threw us out of the plan. They now want to give us the same plan for $153 [per month],” he told the Daily Caller. “The President said you can’t be kicked out of your plan. He lies.”Schokowitz is one of many Medicare beneficiaries now learning that — like Americans who buy insurance on the individual market —...

Seniors who went back to work after retirement used to do it to keep busy, but the Obama Recession and the uncertainties of the Affordable Care Act have made it an economic necessity for more and more older Americans, according to Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens. “Two recent Gallup surveys show that there are more post-retirement job seekers out there than ever before, mainly because they’ve lost confidence in the economy. The historically destructive recession that started as the president took office and his inability to speed up the recovery have seniors scrambling for ways...

A 72-year-old California deer hunter was recovering Monday after surviving on squirrels and packing leaves around him for warmth for nearly three weeks while he was lost and alone in the snowy wilderness, authorities said. Gene Penaflor was discovered by hunters on Saturday after 19 days in the Mendocino National Forest in the Coastal Mountain Range of northwestern California, according to a report by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH)-- In the midst of major changes in health care, United HealthCare has sent thousands of pink slips to Connecticut doctors. Termination letters went to physicians caring for Medicare patients. Those letters were sent out to doctors caring for 'Medicare Advantage' patients. It's a plan, marketed to Seniors to provide additional services through UnitedHealthCare. A mix of primary care and specialty doctors are affected by it. And it comes at a questionable time. Open enrollment for Medicare starts next Tuesday, and it's still not clear at this time as to which doctors are still in the United...

Looking for input from anyone who is using or has used Amac. I've received literature from Amac - The Conservative Alternative to AARP, and would like to hear reviews from anyone currently using it. Please, this is a serious question, and I would like serious answers. Thank you all.

Rep. Ron Barber, D-Ariz., introduced a bill to repeal a provision of Obamacare that threatens to increase costs for senior citizens after constituents brought the issue to his attention. “This piece of legislation is a direct result of the concerns of the people I represent and discussions with the people of Green Valley,” Barber said in a statement Tuesday on the Helping Families and Seniors Save on Health Care Act. “The most important thing I can do is bring the voice of our community to Washington. In this case, that means protecting Southern Arizona seniors from rising health-care costs," Barber...

Americans who dream of a retirement filled with sandy beaches, temperate weather and colorful local life may have another thing coming. That's because a new report from the National Institute on Retirement Security finds that 45 percent of working-age households have no retirement savings at all. The average figure for funds set aside by households nearing the end of their working lives was a meager $12,000. That's not enough to cover a single year. If there is no change in their savings rate, many Americans may wind up living on monthly Social Security benefits alone. Monthly benefits now average just...

International Business Machines Corp. plans to move about 110,000 retirees off its company-sponsored health plan and instead give them a payment to buy coverage on a health-insurance exchange, in a sign that even big, well-capitalized employers aren't likely to keep providing the once-common benefits as medical costs continue to rise. The move, which will affect all IBM retirees once they become eligible for Medicare, will relieve the technology company of the responsibility of managing retirement health-care benefits. IBM said the growing cost of care makes its current plan unsustainable without big premium increases. IBM's shift is an indication that health-insurance...

He’ll still sit court side at Los Angeles Lakers’ games, but Hollywood legend Jack Nicholson has quietly retired from the movie business, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned. The 76-year-old icon has no plans to appear in films again after a career spanning five decades. “Jack has — without fanfare — retired,” a well-placed Hollywood film insider confirmed to Radar.

Christie Brinkley is proving, once again, that age is nothing but a number. The 59-year-old blond beauty was all smiles while attending the 38th Annual Hampton Classic Horse Show in Bridgehampton, N.Y., over the weekend. And why shouldn't she be grinning? Decked out in a white dress paired with suede boots and a straw hat, Brinkley no doubt looked just as good—if not better—than many gals far younger.

17 terrorists who were convicted of murdering Israelis, including three who murdered senior citizens using axes, are among the 26 terrorists that Israel will set free this week. The full list was made public on the Israel Prisons Service website on Sunday night. Among the terrorists to be released is Salah Ibrahim Ahmad Mughdad, the murderer of Israel Tenenbaum who was found dead on June 14, 1993, at the hotel in Netanya where he had been working as a night watchman. Mughdad had murdered him on the job. Also being released is Barbakh Faiz Rajab Madhat, who murdered 61-year-old Moshe...

Employer retiree health care coverage, which has been deteriorating for years amid high health care costs and waning employer interest, is headed for bigger changes thanks to the Affordable Care Act, a new study shows. More than 40 percent of employers have eliminated their traditional group health coverage for retirees over the age of 65 in favor of giving these former employees a defined amount of money for them to buy their coverage on the individual Medicare plan market, according to a new survey of more than 540 companies by employee benefits consulting firm Aon Hewitt (AON). For most of...