Blog

• Wait Times Increase for Disability Benefits as Social Security Offices Struggle Financially

  December 12, 2022: State operations that review Social Security disability claims face massive backlogs, leaving Americans with disabilities waiting months and even years for judgments. To combat the crisis, House and Senate Democrats are calling for a drastic boost in...Read more >

• Kevin McCarthy Faces Debt-limit Dilemma in Bid for Speaker as House GOP Hardliners Ratchet Up Demands

  December 12, 2022: House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy is facing pressure from House Republicans to detail how he will handle the issue of raising the debt limit before they will commit to supporting him for House Speaker. A growing number of Republicans have signaled a...Read more >

• Biden Announces $36 Billion in Relief to Avoid Cuts to Promised Pension Benefits

  December 12, 2022: President Biden announced $36 billion in financial relief on Thursday to prevent pension benefit cuts for thousands of union workers. Biden was joined by Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, union leaders including AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and wo...Read more >

• Kaiser Health News: Paxlovid Has Been Free So Far. Next Year, Sticker Shock Awaits.

  December 09, 2022: Nearly 6 million Americans have taken Paxlovid for free, courtesy of the federal government. The Pfizer pill has helped prevent many people infected with covid-19 from being hospitalized or dying, and it may even reduce the risk of developing lon...Read more >

• Should Older Seniors Risk Major Surgery? New Research Offers Guidance

  December 01, 2022: Nearly 1 in 7 older adults die within a year of undergoing major surgery, according to an important new study that sheds much-needed light on the risks seniors face when having invasive procedures. Especially vulnerable are older patients with pro...Read more >

• Alliance for Retired Americans Hosts 2022 Retirement Security Symposium

  November 21, 2022: More than a dozen speakers from unions and government agencies, young workers and others shared strategies to address the continuing retirement security emergency in America at the Alliance’s Retirement Security Symposium: An Intergenerational Semi...Read more >

• Sick Profit: Investigating Private Equity’s Stealthy Takeover of Health Care Across Cities and Specialties

  November 21, 2022: Two-year-old Zion Gastelum died just days after dentists performed root canals and put crowns on six baby teeth at a clinic affiliated with a private equity firm. His parents sued the Kool Smiles dental clinic in Yuma, Arizona, and its private equ...Read more >

• Kaiser Health News: Supreme Court to Hear Nursing Home Case That Could Affect Millions

  November 10, 2022: When Susie Talevski sued the agency that managed her elderly father’s care before he died, she hoped to get justice for her family. She did not expect the case would grow into a national bellwether. A ruling against her could strip millions of vuln...Read more >

• Kaiser Health News: Say What? Hearing Aids Available Over-the-Counter for as Low as $199, and Without a Prescription

  October 21, 2022: Starting Monday, consumers will be able to buy hearing aids directly off store shelves and at dramatically lower prices as a 2017 federal law finally takes effect. Where for decades it cost thousands of dollars to get a device that could be purcha...Read more >

• Nursing Home Surprise: Advantage Plans May Shorten Stays to Less Time Than Medicare Covers

  October 07, 2022: After 11 days in a St. Paul, Minnesota, skilled nursing facility recuperating from a fall, Paula Christopherson, 97, was told by her insurer that she should return home. But instead of being relieved, Christopherson and her daughter were worried b...Read more >