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I received a 250% increase on my Part D plan … help!
I received my new 2025 Part D premium with the plan increase going up by 250%, from $25.00 a month to over $60.00. I was informed that my diabetic insulin and one of my high blood pressure prescriptions are no longer covered beginning Jan. 1, 2025, on the Part D plan I am on.
Toni, please explain in easy-to-understand terms what I need to do...Read more
Social Security and You: Seeing It in Black and White
Readers are always asking me to explain various Social Security rules and regulations. But sometimes they want more. They want to see something official -- something in "black and white." In other words, they want me to give them a legal reference.
I sort of know where they are coming from. Frequently, they have heard one thing from a friend or...Read more
Commentary: Seniors are getting crushed by Washington's recklessness
Inflation has pulverized Americans’ finances over the last four years, and a new study shows that’s especially true for the nation’s seniors, whose retirement accounts have been walloped.
The losses have been so severe that would-be retirees need to work an extra six years on average before they can hang up their work boots—and they can...Read more
How to inform Medicare that your income is lower
I began taking my RMDs (Required Minimum Distributions) from my 401(k) when I turned 72, and my Medicare premium in 2024 is $454.20 for Part B and $53.80 for Part D. Did taking my RMD with my Social Security check raise my Medicare premiums? My wife, Karen, was working last year and made about $250,000. Are both of our incomes used to determine...Read more
Social Security and You: Politics, Elections and Social Security
Because the presidential and congressional elections are on everyone's mind, more than a few people have sent me emails saying something like this: "I'm afraid that this upcoming election will lead to dramatic changes to Social Security. So even though I didn't want to file for Social Security for a few more years, I'm going to do it now so that...Read more
Missouri: Jackson County voting on small property tax increase for senior services
Voters heading to the polls in Jackson County have the chance to adopt a small property tax increase to fund services for seniors aged 60 and above through a ballot measure called Question 1.
The question reads, “Shall Jackson County, Missouri, levy a tax of five (5) cents per each one hundred (100) dollars assessed valuation for the purpose ...Read more
I’m turning 65 and still working … I have Medicare questions
Hello Toni:
I have a few questions about enrolling in Medicare since I am turning 65 this January:
-- Will my Medicare start automatically in January since I am still working?
-- If I retire when I’m 67, do I stay on COBRA or enroll in a Medicare plan?
-- What happens if I get another job?
Friends and co-workers tell me one thing about ...Read more
Social Security and You: Here Are Some Social Security Rules I Can't Explain
I've always prided myself on being able to explain the rationale behind various Social Security rules and regulations. Many times, readers will send me emails in which they express utter befuddlement at a law or regulation that affects their eligibility for Social Security. It's usually a situation that results in them getting reduced benefits. ...Read more
She was kicked out of the National Honor Society when she got pregnant at 15. For her 80th birthday, she got reinstated
She never forgot the fateful day in 1961 that several classmates showed up at her door to seize her National Honor Society membership and deliver a message: She had been deemed “no longer honorable.”
Joanne Johnson Grimes was 15 and pregnant. School administrators forced her to drop out of Burlington City High School in New Jersey her ...Read more
This bike shop is still going strong at 50 years, outlasting competitors with its 'old school' vibe
CHERRY HILL, N.J. -- At 10 a.m. on any given Tuesday, cyclists begin wheeling their bikes up the ramps behind the Erlton Bike Shop in Cherry Hill, looking for owners Rich Tustin, his son Aaron, or any of their crew as soon as the store opens.
The cyclists need flats repaired, brake pads replaced, derailleurs aligned, and wheels straightened on ...Read more
Millions of aging Americans are facing dementia by themselves
Sociologist Elena Portacolone was taken aback. Many of the older adults in San Francisco she visited at home for a research project were confused when she came to the door. They’d forgotten the appointment or couldn’t remember speaking to her.
It seemed clear they had some type of cognitive impairment. Yet they were living alone.
...Read more
Millions of aging Americans are facing dementia by themselves
Sociologist Elena Portacolone was taken aback. Many of the older adults in San Francisco she visited at home for a research project were confused when she came to the door. They’d forgotten the appointment or couldn’t remember speaking to her.
It seemed clear they had some type of cognitive impairment. Yet they were living alone.
...Read more
This 71-year-old pole dancer defies expectations — and gravity — in age-obsessed LA
LOS ANGELES -- Dressed in 7-inch neon heels and translucent yellow bell-bottoms, Mary Serritella was defying gravity and expectations on a recent Wednesday night at Hollywood's Bourbon Room.
Spinning gracefully around a silver pole to disco medley, she contorted her body into a series of improbable positions with even more improbable names ...Read more
This 71-year-old pole dancer defies expectations -- and gravity -- in age-obsessed LA
LOS ANGELES -- Dressed in 7-inch neon heels and translucent yellow bell-bottoms, Mary Serritella was defying gravity and expectations on a recent Wednesday night at Hollywood's Bourbon Room.
Spinning gracefully around a silver pole to disco medley, she contorted her body into a series of improbable positions with even more improbable names ...Read more
Older men’s connections often wither when they’re on their own
At age 66, South Carolina physician Paul Rousseau decided to retire after tending for decades to the suffering of people who were seriously ill or dying. It was a difficult and emotionally fraught transition.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do, where I was going to go,” he told me, describing a period of crisis that began in 2017.
...Read more
What changes are available during Medicare’s AEP?
In August, my husband and I enrolled in a Medicare Supplement, which has not paid a medical claim because we are in a Medicare Advantage plan. We could not leave the Advantage plan and return to Original Medicare due to Medicare rules.
I was told that Medicare’s Annual Enrollment is when Sonny and I can disenroll from this Advantage plan ...Read more
Older men's connections often wither when they're on their own
At age 66, South Carolina physician Paul Rousseau decided to retire after tending for decades to the suffering of people who were seriously ill or dying. It was a difficult and emotionally fraught transition.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do, where I was going to go,” he told me, describing a period of crisis that began in 2017.
...Read more
Social Security and You: Social Security COLA for 2025
In mid-October every year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its much-anticipated report on changes (usually increases) to the Consumer Price Index over the past 12 months. Why is this little esoteric government report -- actually called the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers -- so popular? Because for the ...Read more
Study suggests aspirin may help prevent colorectal cancers
From bone to heart health, aspirin has been linked to all kinds of benefits through the years — though many of these benefits have since been debunked. But according to a recent study, the pill may significantly lower colorectal cancer risks.
Published in JAMA Oncology, researchers analyzed data from over 107,000 people who were monitored ...Read more
Middle-aged adults with blocked leg arteries may face high risk of amputation
People in their 50s with severely narrowed leg arteries may face a high risk for major amputations despite having emergency surgery to restore blood flow to their legs, new research shows.
The findings, published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, highlight the need for early detection and treatment of peripheral artery ...Read more
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