Susan Jaffe

Author's posts

Drug plan prices touted during Medicare open enrollment can rise within a month

Even the savviest Medicare drug plan shoppers can get a shock when they fill prescriptions: That great deal on medications in fall is no bargain after prices go up as much as 8% by winter.

Medicare Surprise: Drug Plan Prices Touted During Open Enrollment Can Rise Within a Month

Even the savviest Medicare drug plan shoppers can get a shock when they fill prescriptions: That great deal on medications is no bargain after prices go up.

Medicare Patients Win the Right to Appeal Gap in Nursing Home Coverage

If federal officials accept a court’s decision, some patients will get a chance to seek refunds for their nursing home and other expenses.

Medicare’s Open Enrollment Is Open Season for Scammers

Medicare officials say complaints are rising from seniors lured into private plans with misleading information or enrolled without their consent. In response, officials have threatened to penalize the private companies selling Medicare Advantage and drug plans if they or agents working on their behalf mislead consumers.

Beware of misleading sales tactics, scams during Medicare’s open enrollment

Such problems are especially prevalent during this period, which began Oct. 15 and runs through Dec. 7. But there is help.

3 States Limit Nursing Home Profits in Bid to Improve Care

Following the devastating impact of covid-19 on nursing homes, state lawmakers want to be sure that government and private payments primarily go to improve care and staffing.

After Pandemic Ravaged Nursing Homes, New State Laws Protect Residents

This year, 23 states passed more than 70 pandemic-related provisions affecting nursing homes, including measures setting minimum staffing levels, expanding visitation protections and limiting owners’ profit margins.

Zooming Into the Statehouse: Nursing Home Residents Use New Digital Skills to Push for Changes

Connecticut residents who learned how to communicate with family and friends through digital technology when their nursing homes closed to visitors last year used that skill to testify remotely during legislative hearings on bills affecting them.

Under New Cost-Cutting Medicare Rule, Same Surgery, Same Place, Different Bill

A Trump administration Medicare rule will push some hospital patients into a Catch-22: The government says several hundred procedures no longer need to be done in a hospital, but it did not approve them to be performed elsewhere. So patients will still need to use a hospital while not officially admitted — and may be charged more out-of-pocket for the care.

Under New Cost-Cutting Medicare Rule, Same Surgery, Same Place, Different Bill

A Trump administration Medicare rule will push some hospital patients into a Catch-22: The government says several hundred procedures no longer need to be done in a hospital, but it did not approve them to be performed elsewhere. So patients will still need to use a hospital while not officially admitted — and may be charged more out-of-pocket for the care.