Archive for the ‘Health Care’ Category
Will my Medicare Part B premiums increase in 2011? Most Medicare beneficiaries will continue to pay the same $96.40 or $110.50 Part B premium amount in 2011. Beneficiaries who currently have the Social Security Administration (SSA) withhold their Part B premium and have incomes of $85,000 or less ($170,000 or less for joint filers) will not have an increase in their Part B premium for 2011. For additional details, see our FAQ titled:
For all others, the standard Medicare Part B monthly premium will be $115.40 in 2011, which is a 4.4% increase over the 2011 premium. The Medicare Part B premium is increasing in 2011 due to possible increases in Part B costs. If your income is above $85,000 (single) or $170,000 (married couple), then your Medicare Part B premium may be higher than $115.40 per month.
Social Security will use the income reported two years ago on your IRS income tax return to determine your premium (if unavailable, SSA will use income from three years ago). For example, the income reported on your 2009 tax return will be used to determine your monthly Part B premium in 2011. If your income has decreased since 2009, you can ask that the income from a more recent tax year be used to determine your premium, but you must meet certain criteria.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is providing $749 million in housing assistance grants to help nonprofit organizations deliver accessible housing, rental assistance and supportive services for the elderly and persons with disabilities. HUD’s Sections 202 and 811 Supportive Housing programs will kick start construction or major rehabilitation on housing developments in 41 states and Puerto Rico. Find out about rental assistance by contacting your local HUD office.
Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis has announced an innovative partnership that leverages the combined audience and expertise of officials from the U.S. Department of Labor, Facebook, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, DirectEmployers Association and the National Association of Colleges and Employers. The initiative provides important employment resources to job seekers through the use of social networks. As part of the announcement, Facebook officials debuted a social jobs partnership page that highlights available training programs, educational opportunities and job search resources.
Handbook from The Autistic Self Advocacy Network written by adults and youth with autism for current and future college students with autism. Discusses disability and special education laws that apply to students from grades K-12 and how students in college must advocate for themselves. Also includes information on independent living, health and safety, and social issues. You can order a copy or download the book in PDF format from the website.
Get your FREE prescription drug discount card from Medicare Card You can save from 10% to 85% on the cost of both brand name and generic prescriptions immediately.
There are no claim forms to fill out and no limits to the number of times you or your family can use the card. Medicare drug discounts are available only at participating pharmacies. The Pharmacy Discount Program provides discounts for its members at certain participating pharmacies for drugs and other healthcare supplies. You can also save on smoking cessation aids and diabetes supplies. These savings are based on the fact that we have over 56,000 pharmacies processing millions of prescriptions annually.
Eighteen-day periods of mandatory school closures and other social distancing measures were associated with a 29 to 37 percent reduction in influenza transmission rates in Mexico during the 2009 pandemic. The research was carried out by scientists at the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health and published in PLoS Medicine.
The federal government’s YouTube channel features videos on careers with the government, food safety, interviews aboard a space shuttle, and much more.
A new program to help patients and health care professionals feel more comfortable talking about bowel control problems is now available from the National Institutes of Health.
Autism blurs the molecular differences that normally distinguish different brain regions, a new study suggests. Among more than 500 genes that are normally expressed at significantly different levels in the front versus the lower middle part of the brain’s outer mantle, or cortex, only 8 showed such differences in brains of people with autism, say researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.
Delineation of the origin of the retrovirus known as XMRV from the genomes of laboratory mice indicates that the virus is unlikely to be responsible for either prostate cancer or chronic fatigue syndrome in humans, as has been widely published. The virus arose because of genetic recombination of two mouse viruses. Subsequent infection of lab experiments with XMRV formed the basis of the original association.
On June 5, 1981, an article concerning five previously healthy, young gay men in Los Angeles diagnosed with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, an infection that usually appears only in individuals with substantial immune system damage, appeared in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Following recent anti-terrorism activity in Pakistan, the U.S. Department of State has issued an alert for U.S. citizens who are living or traveling abroad. Due to possible increases in anti-American violence, those living or staying in volatile areas should limit travel, avoid mass gatherings, and follow media reports on local events.
Today marks the launch of the second annual MusiCares and GRAMMY Foundation Teen Substance Abuse Awareness through Music Contest. Announced by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, along with MusiCares and the GRAMMY Foundation — the two nonprofit organizations of The Recording Academy — the contest asks young musicians, ages 14-18, to compose or create an original song and/or music video that explores, encourages, and celebrates a healthy lifestyle or accurately depicts a story about drug abuse. Winners will be revealed during NIDA’s second annual National Drug Facts Week, which begins Oct. 31, 2011.
Make your health a top priority through good nutrition, regular exercise, preventive screenings, and stress management.
Thirty years since the first report of the disease we now know as AIDS, scientists supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, continue advancing toward our goal of a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. I am optimistic that we will succeed.
Get practical tips on hay fever, depression, keeping food safe, getting a good night’s sleep, HPV (human papillomavirus), and other topics. You can order the kit in printed form or view an online version of the publications.
Men and women infected with HIV reduced the risk of transmitting the virus to their sexual partners by taking oral antiretroviral medicines when their immune systems were relatively healthy, according to findings from a large-scale clinical study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.