Americans have an unprecedented opportunity to reform health care access and catch up with the rest of the developed world. While both major political parties squabble about whether the Affordable Care Act went too far or not far enough in harassing and soaking consumers, the public can suggest a common-sense, money-saving approach to health insurance […]
Medicare
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Maintain the safety net
A number of years ago, I was diagnosed with multifocal motor neuropathy — a disorder that has slowly taken the use of my hands and arms. As my disability worsened, I decided that, at 65 years of age, retirement would be my best option. In doing calculations, my financial survival depended upon the continuation of […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Fraud watch: Beware bogus 'Medicare' calls
As Congress and the new Trump administration talk about repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), fraudsters are taking advantage of the confusion. The AARP Fraud Watch Network reports that fraudsters are posing as insurance company representatives, or someone from Medicare or another federal agency, calling consumers asking for personal information, sometimes money. “What […]
Posted inConnections, sj-web
SeniorsPlus to offer Medicare basics class in Bethel
BETHEL — SeniorsPlus will offer “Medicare Basics” from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 7, Bethel Adult Education at Telstar High School, 284 Walkers Mill Road, For those who are approaching Medicare eligibility, the class will explain timelines and deadlines to apply, including for those who are still working and not yet eligible for social […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Proposed changes to Medicare just unacceptable
Maine has a special connection to the New Deal of 1933, whose originator, Frances Perkins, spent much of her life as a part-time resident of Newcastle. The Roosevelt initiatives that Ms. Perkins, the first woman to serve as a member of a presidential cabinet, helped craft were the beginning of the most important social compact […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Medicare needs permission to negotiate with drug companies, Sen. Angus King says
Calling it “a travesty on the taxpayers,” U.S. Sen. Angus King is pressing to secure congressional approval to let Medicare negotiate lower prescription drug prices. The proposal would allow the government health care program for seniors to seek volume discounts from pharmaceutical companies that provide drugs for Medicare Part D’s 41 million participants. Since the passage […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Sha Na Na singer seeks to save Medicare
LEWISTON — Doo-wop star Jon Bauman, former lead singer of Sha Na Na, took the stage Tuesday at The Dolard & Priscilla Gendron Franco Center as part of a campaign to protect Medicare and Social Security. The performer, better known as “Bowzer,” said Lewiston was chosen as the first of many planned stops across the […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Nearly 1 in 3 Medicare beneficiaries get opioid prescriptions
CHICAGO — Nearly 12 million Medicare beneficiaries received at least one prescription for an opioid painkiller last year at a cost of $4.1 billion, according to a federal report that shows how common the addictive drugs are in many older Americans’ medicine cabinets. With an overdose epidemic worsening, nearly one-third of Medicare beneficiaries received at […]
Posted inLetters
Depriving Maine people
The governor of Maine is a former manager from Marden’s. He brings to Maine Marden’s-quality government. The people of Maine think they are getting a good deal because it is cheap. Government officials in New Mexico, on the other hand, are quite willing to take the federal money that pays for the mental health services […]
Posted inConnections
SeniorsPlus to offer class on Medicare
WEST PARIS — SeniorsPlus has announced the March offering of its Long Distance Learning program, which connects community members in the Oxford Hills area with live educational seminars being held at the Lewiston Education Center of SeniorsPlus. The class, Basic Medicare Information, will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 24, at the West Paris […]