By Robert Pear, New York Times – Aug 16, 2014

WASHINGTON — In a policy change, the Obama administration is planning to pay doctors to coordinate the care of Medicare beneficiaries, amid growing evidence that patients with chronic illnesses suffer from disjointed, fragmented care.

Although doctors have often performed such work between office visits by patients, they have historically not been paid for it.

Starting in January, Medicare will pay monthly fees to doctors who manage care for patients with two or more chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes and depression.

“Paying separately for chronic care management services is a significant policy change,” said Marilyn B. Tavenner, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Officials said such care coordination could pay for itself by keeping patients healthier and out of hospitals.

By Robert Powell, USA Today – Aug 16, 2014

Researchers apparently don’t agree whether Americans are financially prepared for retirement. And that debate could greatly affect whether you’re saving enough or too little or too much for your golden years.

Consider two well-known studies: the National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI), published by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, and the Retirement Readiness Rating, published by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). Those studies suggest that 43% to 52% of Americans won’t be able to maintain their pre-retirement standards of living in retirement.

But other studies, including one by RAND economists Michael Hurd and Susann Rohwedder and a series of studies by University of Wisconsin professors John Karl Scholz and Ananth Seshadri, suggest that only 16% to 29% of Americans have not saved enough for retirement. That, by the way, is consistent with a new Federal Reserve study that shows nearly 20% of people ages 55 to 64 have no retirement savings.

By Reed Abelson and Eric Lichtblau, New York Times – Aug 15, 2014

BALTIMORE — The ordinary looking office building in a suburb of Baltimore gives no hint of the high-tech detective work going on inside. A $100 million system churns through complicated medical claims, searching for suspicious patterns and posting the findings on a giant screen.

Hundreds of miles away in a strip mall north of Miami, more than 60 people — prosecutors, F.B.I. agents, health care investigators, paralegals and even a forensic nurse — sort through documents and telephone logs looking for evidence of fraudulent Medicare billing. A warehouse in the back holds fruits of their efforts: wheelchairs, boxes of knee braces and other medical devices that investigators say amount to props for false claims.

Wall Street Journal – Aug 15 2014

DAVID BLANCHETT : Retirees today are probably pretty close to where they should be from a risk perspective, at least on average. I think a good starting point for the target equity (or stock) allocation for investors is 110 minus their age. For example, an adequately funded 65-year-old should target a stock allocation of about 45%. According to the 2010 Survey of Consumer Finances, a government study on the finances of U.S. families conducted by the Federal Reserve, the average household has about 40% of its financial assets invested in stocks at age 65, declining to around 20% by age 95.

By Tim Parker, Investopedia – Aug 14, 2014

There’s a lot of talk about the future of Social Security but do you know how this massive government program is funded?

Social Security primarily serves Americans of retirement age. Of the 58 million people receiving benefits, about 41 million, or 71%, are retired workers.

Who are the other 29%? Social Security also pays benefits to people with qualifying disabilities, survivors of workers who have passed away, and certain dependents of beneficiaries, such as widows and widowers and some divorced spouses. Many of these dependents are children. In fact, according to a report by the Social Security Administration, the program pays more benefits to children than any other government program does.

By Josh Zumburn, Wall Street Journal – Aug 14, 2014

One of the biggest changes in the U.S. labor market over the past two decades has been the increasing number of people working over the age of 55. From the end of World War II until the early 1990s, a smaller and smaller share remained in the labor force but since the 1990s that trend reversed.

In 1993, only 29% of people that age were in the labor force. The vast majority were retired. But participation has been rising and by 2012 more than 41% of that age group were still in the labor force, the highest since the early 1960s.

By Robert B. Blancato, The Hill – Aug 14, 2014

Big things are happening for Medicare and its Part D prescription drug benefit. The Medicare program celebrated its 49^th anniversary, a report by its trustees pointed to a fiscally healthier Medicare and that same report revealed that seniors have saved more than $11.5 billion on prescription drugs or an average $1407 for the 8.2 million enrolled in Part D.

Since Medicare Part D was enacted just over a decade ago, prescription drug coverage for beneficiaries has drastically improved. Through the program’s utilization of free-market principles, Part D provides access to needed medications, while controlling costs for both beneficiaries and taxpayers. To date, it is the best example of a federal program that works, for everyone. If there was doubt, last week provided two new pieces of concrete evidence to back the claim that the program is popular and competition is working well.