By Lauran Neergaard; The Associated Press ~ Jun 09, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) — In one of the most ambitious attempts yet to thwart Alzheimer’s disease, a major study got underway Monday to see if an experimental drug can protect healthy seniors whose brains harbor silent signs that they’re at risk.

Scientists plan to eventually scan the brains of thousands of older volunteers in the U.S., Canada and Australia to find those with a sticky build-up believed to play a key role in development of Alzheimer’s – the first time so many people without memory problems get the chance to learn the potentially troubling news.

By Glenn Ruffenach; MarketWatch ~ Jun 09, 2014

If you haven’t figured it out by now, you soon will: Building a nest egg is (relatively) easy; tapping that same nest egg in retirement so that it lasts as long as you do is the hard part. Three steps can help you achieve that goal.

Most investors, when they begin trying to create a steady stream of income in later life, quickly come face-to-face with a host of unknowns: market returns, inflation, health-care costs and life expectancy, among others. Each of these factors makes it difficult to determine how much money you can safely withdraw from savings over a retirement that could easily last 30 years.

By Tony Maglio; The Wrap ~ Jun 03, 2014

The future entity predicts 20 percent savings on content, touts big bundling
opportunities.

AT&T may be trying to pay a boatload for DirecTV, but it will make its money back if all
goes according to plan.

The telecom company expects an annual cost savings of $1.6 billion three years after the proposed deal closes, cutting costs by 20 percent or more, according to a Tuesday SEC filing.

By Peter Svensson; The Associated Press ~ Jun 03, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — In an attempt to curry favor with regulators, AT&T Inc. said Tuesday that if it’s allowed to buy satellite broadcaster DirecTV, it will be able to afford an
expansion of fiber connections into more homes to boost their Internet connection speeds.

DirecTV’s board of directors agreed last month to sell to AT&T for $48.5 billion, but the deal needs approval from regulators. Expanding broadband access and raising speeds is a federal policy goal, so AT&T’s offer could interest regulators at the Federal Communications Commission.

AT&T said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that the DirecTV deal would enable it to upgrade 2 million additional locations to “Gigapower” fiber connections, and expand high speed broadband coverage overall to 13 million locations.

By Peter S. Green; The Wall Street Journal ~ Jun 02, 2014

Some Americans who contribute to health savings accounts are finding these plans’ best use may be not for paying medical expenses, but as supplementary retirement
accounts.

A married couple who qualify can put away as much as $8,550 in 2014 and have some or all of that money grow in mutual-fund investments for many years without any immediate taxation.

“The tax-shelter properties are powerful,” says Louis Kokernak, a financial planner with Haven Financial Advisers in Austin, Texas.

By Glenn Ruffenach; MarketWatch ~ Jun 02, 2014

Medicare Advantage plans were supposed to fall out of favor with the passage of the Affordable Care Act. But a recent report from the Kaiser Family Foundation indicates that these plans are more popular than ever.

In a Medicare Advantage plan, participants receive Medicare benefits through private health plans, such as health maintenance organizations. Started in the 1970s (under a
different name), Medicare Advantage plans now account for about 30% of all
Medicare spending, or a projected $156 billion in 2014.

By Ferdous Al-Faruque; The Hill ~ May 31, 2014

The insurance industry is picking a fight with pharmaceutical companies over the rising cost of specialty drugs.

Insurers say the high prices are raising healthcare costs for insurance companies and everyone else, threatening the sustainability of the U.S. healthcare system.

Drug makers say the high prices are necessary to recoup research and development costs. They also say insurers should cover more of the cost of pharmaceuticals.

The fight has been waged as a full-fledged feud in Washington between America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the lobbying group for insurers; and the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

By Jonnelle Marte; The Washington Post ~ May 30, 2014

Reps. Tom Cole (R-Okla) and John Delaney (D-Md) introduced a bill Friday that would create a bipartisan commission to improve Social Security.

Cole, a senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, is partnering with Delaney, a junior member of the House elected in 2012, to propose a 13-member Social Security Commission that would have a year to come up with a list of recommendations for improving the program. As it stands, the Social Security Administration has enough funds to pay full benefits through 2033, according to the latest trustees report.

By Robert Langreth; Bloomberg Businessweek ~ May 30, 2014

When oncologist Yousuf Zafar at the Duke Cancer Institute prescribed an expensive pill for a young man with colon cancer two years ago, he assumed his patient could afford it because he had a job and private insurance.

Eight months later, Zafar was about to prescribe the drug a second time to the man, whose cancer had relapsed. This time, though, he was shocked when the patient told him his co-pay was $325 per week — and he couldn’t afford it much longer.

By Mark Miller; Reuters ~ May 29, 2014

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Economists worry about something called the economic dependency ratio – the number of people over age 65 to 100 working-age people. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that the ratio will jump sharply in the years ahead as the population gets grayer – from 22 in 2010 to 35 in 2030.

The total dependency ratio, which also includes children, won’t rise nearly that quickly, but politicians and policymakers often marshal the elderly dependence figures to conjure all manner of economic doomsday forecasts – soaring budget deficits, the collapse of Social Security and Medicare. You’d think we’re headed for block-to-block intergenerational warfare raging in our streets.