ssn 728*90 banner

National Social Security Month

by Leave a Comment

April is National Social Security month.  To that end, just so you are aware of what your current benefits are, you should take the following steps, whether you have retired or not…

SSA.gov

Sign into SSA.gov, the Social Security Administration, and use the MY ACCOUNT feature to see what your current (or future benefits) should be.  This is an important aspect of financial planning for everyone…

 

 

Above, you see my current statement (with my income whited out 😆 ).  When I hit age 67 (20 years from now as I write this in 2018) I am scheduled to get $2007 a month from the government,  That isn’t going to be all that much in 2038, which brings up a HUGE point about Social Security…

It was never meant to be your sole source of income in retirement. This is something that most people neglect.  As things stand right now almost 50% of American families do not have any retirement savings.  So the time to start shoring up your retirement accounts is now!

Learn New Strategies

Are there ways you can actually increase your benefits?  Can you work with your spouse where one takes their benefit early and the other spouse waits and collects theirs later?

Absolutely there are.

The problem is that most of the strategies are not well-known.

That means you need to educate yourself.  So to do this one odd the best ways to do so is simply to start reading. I recently bought “Social Security for Dummies” and felt it was a overall good read.  The book did have some issues.  It would point out a concept and then rather than explaining it would direct you to the Social Security website.

I can understand why this is.  The program is changing and under massive financial pressure (see below).  This means some of the concepts discussed today might not be available by the time you try them

Personally Assess Social Security

What I mean here is that you need to make a personal assessment if the program is going to be there for you when you retire.  We are headed into politics here and everyone has an opinion.  So you need to formulate yours based on facts and not on rhetoric.

As the SSA states themselves…

The concepts of solvency, sustainability, and budget impact are common in discussions of Social Security, but are not well understood. Currently, the Social Security Board of Trustees projects program cost to rise by 2035 so that taxes will be enough to pay for only 75 percent of scheduled benefits. This increase in cost results from population aging, not because we are living longer, but because birth rates dropped from three to two children per woman. Importantly, this shortfall is basically stable after 2035; adjustments to taxes or benefits that offset the effects of the lower birth rate may restore solvency for the Social Security program on a sustainable basis for the foreseeable future. Finally, as Treasury debt securities (trust fund assets) are redeemed in the future, they will just be replaced with public debt. If trust fund assets are exhausted without reform, benefits will necessarily be lowered with no effect on budget deficits.

So if the program is going belly-up in 2035, should you be counting it for your long term future?  That is a personal decision.  But base yours on facts and not rhetoric.

Emergency Preparedness and Seniors

by Leave a Comment

Considering Harvey, Irma, Jose and other hurricanes are about to batter the US mainland, I am putting together an emergency preparedness plan especially for my community.

It will feature all of the standard information you will find, but will also cater specifically to seniors and caregivers, who have to answer specific questions that the rest of the population normally doesn’t, such as…

1) How do you evacuate someone with mobility issues?
2) If you are a resident of a nursing home/assisted living facility, how does this change your level of emergency preparedness?

 

 

Emergency Preparedness and Response

When it comes to the family, you need to work out in advance…

1) How do you contact each other?
2) Setting Up The Family Disaster Plan
3) Having proper supplies

Keeping In Touch

First of all, in this day and age, most people should have access to everyone’s cell phone number. But, as those in Florida and Houston unfortunately found out, a hurricane can knock out the service of the devices and also the ability to recharge those devices.

As for the first, there isn’t much you can do about it. Service will be a problem, as residents in Houston found out. And while there have been calls for backups to the cell towers in the event of a disaster, there isn’t much that you can do on a personal level.

Read Fortune: Hurricane Harvey Knocked Out Cell Service. Now Calls for Backup Wireless Power Are Rising 

However, when it comes to recharging your phone and staying in touch, there are solutions you can personally utilize. One of them is a hand cranked cell phone charger from the Red Cross Store. The purpose is to allow you to listen to weather reports and charge your phone without having electricity available.

This will enable you to communicate once the cell phone service is restored, even if electricity isn’t up and running yet.

Setting Up The Family Disaster Plan

Here, you are looking to attempt to plan for all contingencies. Currently as I write this in September 2017 the US news is filled with stories about hurricanes, but what about other emergencies where there is far less warning, such as…

1) Tornadoes
2) Earthquakes
3) Terrorist attack

For these instances, you should be ready in an instant with the following…

a) Central meeting spot – everyone should know where to go in an emergency. This should be the safest spot in the home. But different emergencies require different types of meeting spots. As the CDC Emergency Preparedness website states…

“Different disasters may require you to go to different places. Make sure you choose a meeting place in your neighborhood, a meeting place just outside your neighborhood, and a meeting place out of town.”

b) The best escape routes – this is not only out of your home but also out of town.

c) A “bug out” bag – designed to grab and go and carrying all the basics you need, things such as…

1 Drawstring backpack
1 Emergency poncho
1 Emergency blanket
2 Hand warmers
1 Emergency drinking water pouch
1 Light stick
1 Whistle with neck cord
1 N95 breathing mask
1 Pair exam-quality vinyl gloves
1 Hand sanitizer pack, 0.9g
2 Germicidal wipes
1 Mini first aid kit with:
5 Adhesive plastic bandages, 3/4″ x 3″
3 Adhesive fabric bandages, 3/4″ x 3″
5 Junior adhesive plastic bandages, 3/8″ x 1-1/2″
1 Fingertip fabric bandage
1 Knuckle fabric bandage
2 Antiseptic cleansing wipes (sting free)
1 Triple antibiotic ointment packet, 0.5g
1 Customize your kit brochure
1 How-to-use guide

Note: the Red Cross item pictured (Deluxe Personal Safety Emergency Pack with Bag) is the most basic item. It is missing one obvious thing…FOOD.

They have other emergency back packs, under their “72-Hour Emergency Kit” category that do have food but are also more expensive, up to the $250 range.

So overall these are some basics pointers to handle an emergency like the country is currently facing, but in this article I wanted to talk about the most vulnerable among us, and how to protect seniors during these emergencies….

Dealing With Immobile Seniors In An Emergency

Your local Office of the Aging may have a solution for this. Here, in Suffolk County, NY, there is a program known as the JEEP program.

JEEP stands for Joint Emergency Evacuation Program, and it is designed to create a database of at-risk seniors who will need to be evacuated in an emergency.

The plan is for these seniors to be evacuated BEFORE the storm hits, this way they are already in the shelter so that first responders do not have to go into high risk areas to evacuate people AFTER an emergency who could have been evacuated BEFORE the emergency.

These particular senior services, which could be accessed through your local Office of the Aging or your local fire department, may have another name in your area, but the idea is to get you know that similar senior services must exist where you live. So either reach out to your local Office of the Aging or to a local politician to see if something like that exists in your area.

Dealing With Assisted Living / Nursing Homes

It is actually a requirement for a nursing home / ALF that is Medicare/Medicaid accredited to have emergency plans in place. I found a checklist online for the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services that you can run by your nursing home administrator to make sure they have such a plan in place.

Download the checklist here.

Overall, I hope these tips help and you and yours to stay safe while they are in harm’s way.

How Seniors Can Find Ways To Reduce Their Property Taxes

by 3 Comments

I recently got a question regarding property tax exemptions and how seniors can reduce their property tax bill.

Here was the message I received…

“I’m searching for agencies can help a senior with property taxes. the program I needed is in NY. but not in AZ. To illustrate my plight, I will keep it brief, but they are taxing me $900 a year and my income is only $9,600 SS. so I could lose my home if I don’t find some kind of assistance. Any ideas appreciated where to start looking. There is a river fund here, and I may get help there. don’t know for sure.”

Now, the question does highlight one of the important facts about the situation. The answers are going to be found locally. As the person who asked the question stated, they found the program in NY but couldn’t find it in Arizona.

So, it’s going to be tough to give an all-encompassing answer to this. But the important point to know is that help is available if you know where to look locally. And that is what I am going to try and do. Give you the steps to find out how to get help locally.

This is what I would do…

Office of the Aging

Your first stop should be to your local Office of the Aging. These are operatedlocally, normally at the county level, and are a repository to all of the local services that assist seniors. This would be the first place I would look for assistance. Because these people SHOULD know of all of the local help available.

Town/County Assessor’s Office

Ecery town has a property tax assessor’s office which collects the payments and makes the assessments on your local property taxes. If there is a local program to give you assistance off of your property taxes this would be a place to visit.

Local Politician

I would stop by the office of your local representative to the county legislator and ask for their assistance. Politicians love to help seniors so you might as well use this to your advantage.

I hope these tips help and that if you need help they give you the relief you need.

Why Don’t People Wait To Claim Social Security?

by Leave a Comment

I recently came across this article in the “Motley Fool” that caught my eye. The article, “Why Don’t More People Wait to Claim Social Security at 66?“ seemed to have a simple answer, but it did provide some excellent insights and information into the percentages that claim early, so I was glad I read it.

The 1st unique part of the article was the number of people who actually file early. At this time, even though the “normal” retirement age is 66 almost 1/2 of people file for reduced Social Security benefits at age 62.

 

image 1

 

The reason people are willing to take a 24% hit on their Social Security earnings (that’s the penalty off of your benefits for filing early)…

 

keep in mind why the Social Security Administration cuts benefits for early claimers. It’s not to punish them; it’s because people who start collecting benefits early will receive benefits for a longer amount of time.

The article explains it succinctly here…

the average 62-year-old retiree can be expected to live for about 21.4 more years, while the average 66-year-old will live for 18.3 more years. In other words, the 62-year-old is expected to receive Social Security checks for more than three years longer than someone who waits until 66 to claim benefits.

There are also a few other reasons why people take Social Security early…

They need the money. How many Americans are on track for retirement? Very few…

It’s no secret that millions of Americans are underprepared for retirement. In fact, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), almost half of American families have no retirement savings account at all, including almost 40% of those between the ages of 56 and 61.

The average balance of retirement savings within that 56-61 age group is $163,577, which may sound like a lot, but considering that with the oft-used “4% rule” of retirement, this translates to just over $6,500 in sustainable income from savings. Even more scary, the median amount of retirement savings in this age group is just $17,000.

And even if you are on track for retirement, it COULD still be a good idea to take Social Security early an use it as a means of paying for long-term care insurance, where premiums can be in the hundreds of perhaps thousands of dollars a month.

Should I Take It Early or Wait?

While the statistics may seem surprising at first glance, claiming Social Security before full retirement age is a smart financial decision for millions of Americans. On the other hand, there are some valid reasons for waiting, such as being in good health or a history of longevity in your family, or the fact that you’re still working and don’t need the income.

The point is that if you’re trying to figure out the best age for you to claim Social Security, it’s important to consider the points discussed here as well as the overall picture of your life situation and goals.

Could Entitlements Be On The Budget Table?

by Leave a Comment

On more than one occasion, I have written about how our entitlement programs are going down an unsustainable path. As early as last week I wrote how President Trump’s first budget proposal would not call for any cuts to Medicare and Social Security.

And while this might sound nice, simply put this is impossible to sustain.

As I wrote then…

“If ANYONE has been paying attention, they understand that both Social Security and Medicare are living on borrowed time. Depending upon the estimate you find, both programs are in the hole from $50,000,000,000,000 – $100,000,000,000,000 dollars. By the way, that’s 50 TRILLION to 100 TRILLION dollars in unfunded liabilities. It is fundamentally impossible to shore up these programs with additional taxes alone. The quicker we come to that realization that better.”

Now comes an article from The Hill, Budget chief: Trump could review entitlement reform after first budget. 

On the surface, it sounds like Trump being a typical politician, going back on a campaign promise.   After all, Trump repeatedly said on the campaign trail that he wasn’t cutting Social Security.  Take a look at the video below.  60 seconds in is where the statement is made…

This is in contrast to what the first paragraph of the article states…

“Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said Monday that President Trump could soon review potential reforms to Social Security and Medicare — but he stressed that the reforms under consideration wouldn’t touch payments for current beneficiaries.”

In all sincerity, this is an inevitable result.  There is no way that, as 10,000 baby boomers retire EVERY DAY over the next 20 years we will be able to pay the Medicare and Social Security obligations that this nation has promised.

This is just a fact,

The quicker we deal with this the better.

I do like what he said about not cutting benefits to current beneficiaries…

“Mulvaney, a fiscal hawk, said he’s trying to garner support for entitlement reform that follows Trump’s campaign promise not to touch Social Security and Medicare payments for current recipients.”

That should be the cornerstone of any reform bill, but the real issue is with the massive amount of those who will be entering the Social Security and Medicare system in the late 2020’s and beyond,

I am going to keep tabs on this but unfortunately this is a case of pure math.  There are too many promises made by government, not enough money to pay for this and no way that taxes can be raised to the point to pay for it all.

My advice to those who are expecting any form of Social Security and Medicare (and any pension by the way) in the future is to listen to what the government promises you and divide by 2.  That’s what you will probably end up with.

Trump and Social Security…Round One

by Leave a Comment

President Trump came into Washington as a bull in a China shop, whether you love him or hate him. As such, he literally threatens to “upset the apple-cart” on just about every establishment point of there. Needless to say, for many who are relying on these establishment points of view, they are worried.

Now, I am not here to focus on whether or not Trump is “draining the swamp” as he put it. I will let others bloviate about this.
But as an advocate for seniors, one of the things I have been watching carefully has been the effect of President Trump’s policies on seniors and most of all on the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid systems they rely on.

I have previously written in the campaign season about Trump’s policy promises as a candidate, his meeting with pharmaceutical manufacturers regarding the cost of prescription drugs and potential Social Security changes under Trump.

That last article, discussing the confirmation hearing of Mick Mulvaney as Budget Director, was probably the most worrisome of all of the news for many senior advocates. You see, Mulvaney is a budget hawk, to say the least. He has been on record in the past as saying that there have to be fundamental changes to Medicare and Social Security for both programs to survive. As I put it in the article (and this is my analysis)…

“If ANYONE has been paying attention, they understand that both Social Security and Medicare are living on borrowed time.  Depending upon the estimate you find, both programs are in the hole from $50,000,000,000,000 – $100,000,000,000,000 dollars.  By the way, that’s 50 TRILLION to 100 TRILLION dollars in unfunded liabilities.

It is fundamentally impossible to shore up these programs with additional taxes alone.  The quicker we come to that realization that better.”

That is my take as a 46-year old who knows those programs won’t be around for me. I understand that and am taking action to prepare myself. But what of all the others out there?

What this country needs is someone with political courage to point out the facts to the American people and make the changes NOW, because the sooner we fix this the less pain we will all experience. But what do we get instead?

We get Trump’s first budget proposal, which will spare these programs from any cuts now. On the surface, this sounds wonderful, but as the Yahoo! Finance article explains, Social Security and Medicare are living on borrowed time and don’t need a “kick the can down the road approach”. They need real leadership and moral courage to fix.

Instead, what will we be getting from this first budget proposal…

  • No entitlement cuts
  • Plans to cut middle class taxes
  • Simplify the tax code
  • Spend an extra $56,000,000,000 on Defense

All of these may be great talking points but they leave serious questions to address…

  • With all of the entitlement programs hurtling towards bankruptcy, what measures will be taken to fix the massive amount of unfunded liabilities in these programs (currently estimated at up to $100,000,000,000,000 [that’s trillion])
  • How are we going to cut taxes and spend more on Defense without exploding the debt even further?
  • I am all for a strong defense but an extra $56,000,000,000 (billion)? If you list all the countries by military expenditure, the United Kingdom comes in #5 in world expenditure with $55,000,000,000 TOTAL.

By contrast, Russia spends $66 billion TOTAL, Saudi Arabia $87 billion and China about $215 billion.

This is a colossal amount of money and with the current state of our economy one must wonder if that money could be better allocated.

Which brings me back to Social Security, Medicare and such. There will be no cuts this year, or likely throughout a Trump Administration. This is obviously a good thing short-term. A promise was made many years ago by the government to those retiring today and it should be kept.

What I worry about, as I have studied these programs more and more, is that they are ticking time bombs, and when they eventually turn negative, as every single government report indicates they will, the results will be devastating. But for the moment, all will continue as is.  And that’s the problem.

If You Go Into a Nursing Home Do You Have To Hand Over Your Money and Home?

by Leave a Comment

Today, I am starting a new feature on the blog…Your Questions Answered.

This is where my readership send s me a question, I answer it and then publish the answer. For the longest time I have gotten questions and answered people directly.

Now, however, I am going to start to publish these answers.

The first question comes from Betty J., who asks…

I would like to know if you go into a nursing home do I have to hand over my money and home?

And here is my answer…

Betty,

That’s a great question, but it’s also a legal question so you need to understand first that I am not a lawyer and as such cannot give legal advice.

However, I can tell you how to proceed to get the advice you need.

So let go over some particulars…

1) Nursing home costs are HUGE. In 2012 when my mother was approved for Medicaid to pay for her nursing home costs it was $14,200 a MONTH for the facility
2) There are specific, legal ways for you to shield your assets from nursing home costs, but I would recommend that you get competent legal advice specific to the state you are in so that you can legally protect your assets.

Here is why…

First, you need to understand that Medicaid is a joint Federal/State program. This means that each state has its own rules regarding what is permitted when it comes to protecting your assets from the long term care costs like a nursing home.

Something that is an allowed practice in one state is actually illegal in another.

Second, you must deal with the “Medicaid Look Back Period”, which currently stands at 5 years. This means that when you apply for Medicaid to cover nursing home costs the government will look back into your financial history for 5 years to see what money you had back then. They are looking to see if you have transferred any money to relatives to make it look like you are destitute so that Medicaid will pay for the nursing home.

So, understanding that you have to deal with this 5 year look back period, how do you go about protecting as much of your money and your home as possible?

The first thing to do is to realize you need to start NOW. Take action immediately. And what I would recommend is to see an elder law attorney in your area to go over your finances and see what can be legally protected.

This brings up the question. How do you find the right elder law attorney for you? There are two suggestions I could give you…

1) Many elder law attorneys have free seminars where you can go and ask questions like the one you are asking me. I attended one and wrote about it. You can view that article by clicking here.

2) If you can’t find a local seminar (and you should be able to because they are advertised all over the place) then you need to go through my tips on how to find an elder law attorney.

They are listed here…

I hope this helps. Good luck and get started NOW protecting yourself.

If you have a question, feel free to ask it by contacting me here.

Intergenerational Mentoring Programs

by Leave a Comment

What are intergenerational mentioning programs?

Simply put, they are programs designed to increase the sense of self-worth and community involvement among seniors by allowing them to participate in local youth activities and provide a guiding hand to those who need a helping for local youth.

These programs, typically designed to assist at-risk youth, those who will have a harder time transitioning into adulthood successfully.

And as I learned at the recent Aging-In-Exurbia event, seniors truly do want to remain productive and contribute to society. These types of programs are one way of achieving that.

These at-risk youth could take the form of those with single parents, who have been in trouble with the law, in foster care, etc…

The relationships between the volunteering senior and the young adult, however, are designed to assist both.

While the young adult receive mentorship from an impartial source, it could be argued that the senior actually gets more out of the program.

Some of the benefits could include…

  • Increased self-esteem
  • Improved health outcomes
  • Reduced isolation
  • Increased academic achievement (for the young adult)
  • Reduced delinquent behavior
  • Improved social emotional skills

The program primary purpose is to help the at risk youth, where intergenerational mentoring…

…is a suggested strategy to increase mentors’ sense of self-worth, accomplishment, and well-being (YG-Mentoring, CDC-Thornton 2002, SCL 2016, PIRE-Thompson 2014). Older adults who participate in intergenerational mentoring programs become part of a network of volunteers and develop meaningful relationships with their mentee(s) (YG-Mentoring). Available evidence suggests that intergenerational mentoring can also improve social connectedness, physical and mental health, functioning, and self-esteem for mentors (PIRE-Thompson 2014, Glass 2004).1

These are the benefits for the seniors, but what about the youths…

Intergenerational mentoring can improve participating youth’s attitudes toward aging and older adults, increase academic achievement and social development, and decrease substance use and school absences (PIRE-Thompson 2014). Overall, mentoring programs increase positive educational outcomes for participants (Campbell-Wilson 2011) and appear to reduce delinquent behavior for youth at risk of delinquency
(Campbell-Tolan 2013, DuBois 2011).

There are many such programs across the country like this…

Many intergenerational mentoring programs exist across the country. For example, Across Ages, which started in Philadelphia, PA and now has over 50 sites, Experience Corps, which is in sixteen states and Washington DC, and Intergenerational Bridges in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC (HFRP 2012, SAMHSA-NREPP, AARP-Experience Corps, JCA-Interages programs).

If you live in one of these areas, you can contact them directly. If not, I would reach out to your local or state Office of the Aging for more information to see what is available in your area.

 

1-http://whatworksforhealth.wisc.edu/program.php?t1=20&t2=6&t3=84&id=326

Medicare Part B Excess Charge

by Leave a Comment

What are the Medicare Part B Excess Charges?  And will you have to pay them.  That is the focus of this article.

First of all, you have to understand what Medicare B is, and I am sure that many of you do.  But for those who don’t Medicare Part B is that Medicare coverage that covers doctor’s visits and durable medical equipment.  Medicare Part B covers 80% of the costs of these doctor’s visits or for the designated equipment.

As far as the remaining 20%, you either pay that out-of-pocket or through a Medicare Supplement Plan that you own.

Currently in 2017 the monthly premium for Part B is $134 a month (for those making $85,000 a year).

Now, where does this Medicare Part B Excess Charge come into play?  Here’s how…

If your doctor does not accept what is known as Medicare assignment, they are allowed to have an “excess charge” that is passed along to you.

First, what is assignment?  Medicare assignment is the full cost of a procedure as deemed by Medicare.  They have a listing of the costs of every possible procedure that you may have to have done to you.  They also have with this list of procedures what it should cost to perform.

So, Medicare will pay the doctor a certain amount for the cost of your visit, procedure, test, etc…  But if the doctor makes the determination they want more, they are allowed to charge more and pass that along to you.

To help you understand this better, let’s say you go to the doctor and a lab test costs $500.  Medicare might pay that but the doctor might want more.  In this case, they can charge an “excess charge” of up to $75.

Note: they are limited to a maximum of 15% over-and-above the Medicare assignment fee to charge you.  So, in this example if Medicare is paying $500 the doctor can charge a maximum of $500 x 15% = $75 as an excess charge.

Is There Any Help In Paying the Medicare Part B Excess Charge?

There MAY be help.  If you have purchased a Medicare Supplement Plan they may pay for the excess charge.  Currently, only Plans F & G pay for the excess charge.

medicare part b excess charge

Source: https://www.medicare.gov/supplement-other-insurance/compare-medigap/compare-medigap.html

And it should be noted that certain states do not allow doctors to charge the excess charge…

  • Connecticut
  • Massachusetts
  • Minnesota
  • New York
  • Ohio
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont

The best way to shield yourself is to ask your doctor up front.  If they take Medicare assignment then you are set, but if they plan charging more maybe you need to think about getting another doctor.

President Trump and Prescription Drug Costs

by Leave a Comment

It’s tough these days not to go online and NOT see the word “Trump” in one way or another. But when I saw this, I was extremely hopeful.

The title of the article, “Trump Tells Drugmakers to Manufacture in the U.S.” piqued my interest.  Mainly because I understand what the high cost of medications has done to the wallets of seniors.

So as I read the article, I was far more focused on what President Trump was saying about drug prices than I was about anything else. Here are a few of the tidbits…

  • “We have to get the prices down,” Trump said. “We have to get the prices way down.”
  • “We have to get lower prices, we have to get even better innovation, and I want you to move your companies back to the United States,” Trump said. “I want you to manufacture in the United States.”

Trump also said he wanted to make it easier for pharmaceutical companies to win regulatory approval for their products.

“You’re going to get your prices either approved, or not approved,” the president said. “But it’s going to be a quick process. It’s not going to take 15 years.”

Now, if you are someone who is dealing with the high cost of prescription medications, this should come as a godsend to you. Because President Trump hit the nail on the head as to exactly what the problem is with high drug costs.

And that is the FDA-approval process and government-sanctioned monopolies for drug manufacturers.

Don’t believe me? Check out this study from the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The article, “The High Cost of Prescription Drugs in the United States – Origins and Prospects for Reform” was written in August of 2016 and hits on some familiar topics. But most important are the conclusions that the study draws at the end of the article…

“Conclusions and Relevance High drug prices are the result of the approach the United States has taken to granting government-protected monopolies to drug manufacturers, combined with coverage requirements imposed on government-funded drug benefits. The most realistic short-term strategies to address high prices include enforcing more stringent requirements for the award and extension of exclusivity rights; enhancing competition by ensuring timely generic drug availability; providing greater opportunities for meaningful price negotiation by governmental payers; generating more evidence about comparative cost-effectiveness of therapeutic alternatives; and more effectively educating patients, prescribers, payers, and policy makers about these choices.”

Read that again and let it sink in for a second. Here are the points that truly pissed me off when reading this…

  • High drug prices are the result of the approach the United States has taken to granting government-protected monopolies to drug manufacturers
  • Enhancing competition by ensuring timely generic drug availability

You see, when we complain about the cost of prescription drugs, understand that the prices are so high BECAUSE OF THE GOVERNMENT PICKING THE WINNERS AND THE LOSERS IN THE MARKET. Lobbyists pay politicians to create the monopolies so that only one manufacturer can create a drug for as long as possible.  That is why the price skyrockets.  There is no reason for the manufacturer to keep prices low if only one company can manufactures a particular drug.

The sad part is that most people, when seeing the high prices, then want INCREASED GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY, not realizing that it is these government regulations keeping the costs up.

So if Trump can succeed in reforming the FDA and streaming not only the approval process of new medications but also increasing the amount of generic medications on the market, then we will see the prices coming down to more manageable levels.

I for one hope he succeeds.