Posts Tagged ‘MEDICARE’
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.
Two teens with powerful stories about their experience in drug treatment have been awarded the top distinction in the MusiCares and Grammy Foundation’s Teen Substance Abuse Awareness through Music Contest. The annual contest was created to celebrate National Drug Facts Week and is coordinated by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health.
People addicted to prescription painkillers reduce their opioid abuse when given sustained treatment with the medication buprenorphine plus naloxone (Suboxone), according to research published in yesterday’s Archives of General Psychiatry and conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health.
High blood pressure and other known risk factors for stroke also increase the risk of developing cognitive problems, even among people who have never had a stroke, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health has found.
Dealing with the symptoms of a serious illness is difficult. For the Hispanic population, language and cultural barriers can add to the burden, making it even harder to get relief. A new Spanish-language publication from the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), a component of the National Institutes of Health, provides those in the Hispanic community with information about palliative care, a comprehensive treatment that reduces or eliminates pain and other distressing symptoms of illness and medical treatments.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) presented the Chairman’s Awards for Advancement in Accessibility (AAA) to several organizations that have made important technological innovations to help people with disabilities benefit from communications technologies. The awards ceremony was held in conjunction with National Disability Employment Awareness Month and the one year anniversary of the 21st Century Communications and Video Programming Accessibility Act (CVAA). The Chairman’s AAA encourage technological innovation in communication-related areas and recognize individuals who have found new ways for consumers with disabilities to benefit from our nation’s communications technologies.
The Social Security Administration has announced that monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits will increase 3.6 percent in 2012. The 3.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with the January 2012 benefit payments. Increased payments for people on SSI will begin on December 30, 2011. For some beneficiaries, the increase in their Social Security benefit amount may be partially or completely offset by increases in Medicare premiums in 2012.
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.
Yesterday President Barack Obama announced several new initiatives to help Veterans translate their military skills for the civilian workforce and provide Veterans with new tools to aid their search for jobs.
- The new Veterans Job Bank connects unemployed Veterans to job openings with companies that want to hire them. The Obama Administration partnered with leading job search companies to create a new, easy to use online service that enables employers to “tag” job postings for Veterans. It launched with more than 500,000 job listings, a number that will continue growing as more companies tag the job postings on their own websites and add them to the Veterans Job Bank.
- My Next Move for Veterans is an easy-to-use online tool created by the Department of Labor that allows Veterans to enter information about their experience and skills in the field, and match it with civilian careers that put that experience to use. The site also includes information about salaries, apprenticeships, and other related education and training programs.
- The Veteran Gold Card provides post-9/11 Veterans with extra support as they transition out of the military. Once a Veteran has downloaded the Veteran Gold Card, he or she can access six months of personalized case management, assessments and counseling at the roughly 3,000 One-Stop Career Centers located across the country.
Leading veterans’ organizations also joined President Obama at the White House to announce their support for the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior Tax Credits, two provisions in the American Jobs Act Congress is scheduled to consider that will help create jobs and strengthen the economy. The Returning Heroes Tax Credit provides firms that hire unemployed Veterans with a maximum credit of $5,600 per Veteran, while the Wounded Warriors Tax Credit offers firms that hire Veterans with service-connected disabilities with a maximum credit of $9,600 per Veteran.
Representatives of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will join other governmental agencies on November 5, 2011 from 9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. in Baton Rouge, LA for a public town hall meeting to educate and assist the public on employment issues and problems. People who believe they have been victims of employment discrimination based are invited to attend. The event is free and no registration is required.
Gene therapy plus an injection of copper dramatically improved survival in mice with a condition that mimics the often fatal childhood disorder Menkes disease, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have converted stem cells from the human endometrium into insulin-producing cells and transplanted them into mice to control the animals’ diabetes.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) was named by the White House as a “Champion of Change” on August 25, 2011, for its efforts in supporting research on suicide prevention.
An online alcohol prevention course can help reduce harmful drinking among college freshmen, but the benefits in the fall don’t last through the spring, according to a study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Insel discusses the implications of comorbidity among people with serious mental illness.
Members began receiving their annual notice of Creditable or NonCreditable prescription drug coverage in early September; those notices will be delivered to Members began receiving their annual notice of Creditable or NonCreditable prescription drug coverage in early September; those notices will be delivered to members through the end of the month.
This disclosure is required by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to inform Medicare Supplement members of their options and expectations if they decide to enroll in a Medicare Part D plan. We have been providing this disclosure notice annually since 2005 to Medicare Supplement members who have drug benefits as part of their plan. All members receiving the notices have been in their Medicare Supplement plan at least since December 2005, 84 months. Therefore all members in NonCreditable coverage plans will be subject to penalties if they enroll in a Medicare Part D plan.
The Creditable Coverage notice describes what a member should expect if their current prescription drug benefits are at least as good as the Standard Medicare Part D plan. The NonCreditable Coverage notice describes what a member should expect if their current prescription drug benefits are NOT as good as the Standard Medicare Part D plan and what penalties they can expect if they decide to purchase a Medicare Part D plan.