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 […]
Medicare
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 […]
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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 […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Problems arise for Medicare, Medicaid
WASHINGTON — It was 50 years ago that President Lyndon Johnson flew to Independence, Missouri and, with former President Harry Truman at his side, signed into law the legislation creating Medicare and Medicaid. It was a seminal moment in American political history. For three decades, liberals and conservatives had warred over government health insurance. “Medicare […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Robert Samuelson: Debate needed over generational justice
WASHINGTON — If New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has his way, the unfolding presidential campaign will focus on generational fairness. It will seek to curb spending on the elderly — mainly Social Security and Medicare — without putting the elderly at risk. This debate would be good for the country, but whether the country can […]
Posted inLetters
R. Bussiere: Medicare recipients to feel the wrath
Starting this month, seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare are feeling the full wrath of Gov. Paul LePage. During the past two years, he has cut the income guidelines of the Medicare Savings Program by 10 percent, added asset criteria, and eliminated the Drug for the Elderly benefits for folks on the Medicare Savings […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Six Maine hospitals face penalties for rates of infections, complications
The federal government is cracking down on half a dozen Maine hospitals for high rates of complications and infections. The six Maine facilities are among 721 hospitals nationally with high rates of infections and other patient injuries that will see their payments cut under the federal Medicare program, according to an analysis by Kaiser Health […]