The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

States sue 20 generic drug companies and 15 executives for allegedly conspiring to fix prices for more than 100 drugs

A 44-state coalition of attorneys general is suing Teva Pharmaceuticals and 19 of the nation's largest generic drug manufacturers alleging a conspiracy to increase prices and reduce competition for more than 100 generic drugs.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court, also names 15 individual senior executive defendants, leaders of the conspiracy, who were responsible for sales, marketing, pricing, and operations. The drugs make up billions of dollars of sales in the United States, and the alleged schemes increased prices affecting the health insurance market, taxpayer-funded healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and individuals who had to pay artificially-inflated prices for their prescriptions drugs.

All types of drugs were included – tablets, capsules, suspensions, creams, gels, and ointments – as well as many classes of drugs – statins, ace inhibitors, beta blockers, antibiotics, anti-depressants, contraceptives, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The drugs treat a range of diseases and conditions from basic infections to diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, HIV, ADHD, and more. In some cases, the coordinated price increases were more than 1,000 percent.

How is Trump’s tax act affecting you?

On Saturday afternoon, I mailed in my income taxes for 2018. Instead of getting a refund of around $1,000 like I do most years, my refund was $170.

The TurboTax representative I spoke to said deductions that were helpful to me in the past, such as for my small business and charitable donations, have been eliminated.

So while Trump’s tax revisions are helping the rich, they have no benefit for me. That huge corporations pay little or nothing in income taxes and I’m paying more is discouraging. I don’t mind paying my fair share of taxes. I support good schools, roads, and bridges. But Trump’s tax law is making the rich even richer.

Three days left to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act

Open Enrollment for 2019 Marketplace insurance ends Saturday, December 15. This means you have only three days to enroll in, re-enroll in, or change a 2019 Marketplace plan.

The Trump administration, which is opposed to anything enacted under President Obama, shortened the enrollment period from 90 days to 45.

However, six states and the District of Columbia have extended enrollment dates: California – Jan. 15, 2019; Colorado – Jan. 15, 2019; District of Columbia – Jan. 31, 2019; Massachusetts – Jan. 23, 2019; Minnesota – Jan. 13, 2019; New York – Jan. 31, 2019; and Rhode Island – Dec. 31, 2018.

Scam artists trying to get information from new Medicare cards

The new Medicare cards have now been mailed to recipients in most states.

The cards have a new Medicare number that’s unique to you, instead of a Social Security number. This helps protect your identity. Carrying the old cards around in your pocketbook or purse meant that if either were stolen, the thief would have your Social Security number. I’ve wondered for years why this change wasn’t made. 

You should only give your new Medicare number to doctors, pharmacists, other health care providers, or your insurers.

Scam artists are busy trying to get your Medicare information by contacting you about your new card. If someone asks you for your information, for money, or threatens to cancel your health benefits if you don’t share your personal information, hang up and call Medicare at 800-633-4227.

Best wishes on Election Day to us all

If you haven’t voted yet, be sure and do it. So much is at stake. Americans have the opportunity to tell a racist, sexist, anti-consumer, anti-environmental president that we don’t want his toxic policies any more.

I’m hoping for a Blue Wave. We must undo the harm that President Trump and his cronies are doing to the nation’s consumer and environmental laws. I’ve written article after article on this. Some examples of Trump’s terrible policies are:

• Allowing oil and gas companies to drill in the Arctic.
• Relaxing car pollution rules.
• Extending the life of dirty coal power plants.
• Weakening protection for student borrowers harmed by for-profit colleges.
• Allowing coal ash to be dumped into streams.
• Allowing association health plans that have a history of offering inadequate coverage, even scams.
• Weakening of chemical and pesticide regulations.

See the Brookings Deregulatory Tracker for more information on the Trump administrations deregulatory program.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Baby boomers provide information on daily living, including relationships and stress

Tom Sightings of Sightings Over Sixty is back in the classroom every week this fall, once as a teacher and twice as a student.

Many baby boomers are interested in pursuing their education, whether for profit, leisure, or cultural enrichment – whether they go to a local adult-education class, attend an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute course at a nearby university, or take off on an educational trip with Road Scholar.

Our baby boomer group, too, is interested in education. They write hundreds of articles every year to provide helpful information to boomers. Here’s this week’s offering:

Uninsured rates for health insurance going up again: Which states and cities are having the largest increase?

With the national health insurance uninsured rate back on the rise, growing from 10.9% in late 2016 to 12.2% in late 2017, WalletHub, a personal-finance website, released its report on "2018's Uninsured Rates by City" and by state.
 
WalletHub compared the rates for 547 U.S. cities and the 50 states, in addition to a breakdown by age, race/ethnicity, and income level. The following are some highlights from the reports:

States With Lowest Uninsured Rates			States With Highest Uninsured Rates
1	Massachusetts, 2.8%		41	North Carolina, 10.68%
2	Hawaii, 3.85%		42	South Carolina, 10.99%
3	Minnesota, 4.39%		43	Nevada, 11.23%
4	Vermont, 4.55%		44	Mississippi, 12.04%
5	Rhode Island, 4.62%		45	Wyoming, 12.25%
6	Iowa, 4.71%		46	Florida, 12.94%
7	Michigan, 5.17%		47	Georgia, 13.43%
8	Kentucky, 5.38%		48	Alaska, 13.66%
9	Wisconsin, 5.41%		49	Oklahoma, 14.16%
10	Delaware, 5.41%		50	Texas, 17.3%

For the full list, see https://wallethub.com/edu/uninsured-rates-by-state/4800/.

Corporation to pay $625 million for distributing contaminated drugs, including cancer drugs

Forty-four states and the federal government have reached an agreement with drug distributor AmerisourceBergen Corp. for illegal distribution of adulterated and misbranded drugs. ABC will pay the states and the federal government $625 million, of which $99.9 million will go to the states’ Medicaid programs.

“ABC placed corporate profits over patients’ needs, endangering the health of vulnerable cancer patients,” said U.S. Attorney Donoghue.

The settlement came after ABC’s AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group pleaded guilty to illegally distributing misbranded drugs in September 2017. ABSG agreed to pay $260 million in fines and payments.

Robocaller to pay $82 million for illegally-spoofed health insurance marketing calls

The Federal Communications Commission fined telemarketer Philip Roesel and his companies Wednesday more than $82 million for illegal caller ID spoofing. Roesel made more than 21 million robocalls to market health insurance. Federal law prohibits callers from falsifying caller ID information to disguise their identity to d

The FCC proposed this fine in the summer of 2017. In response, Roesel said that the commission failed to prove its charges. The commission determined that the evidence didn’t support his claims and is imposing the original fine, one of the largest imposed by the agency.

Roesel, doing business as Wilmington Insurance Quotes, or through his company, Best Insurance Contracts Inc., made millions of spoofed robocalls. He sold health insurance and wanted to get leads for more sales. By spoofing his caller ID information, Roesel made it difficult for consumers to make complaints and for law enforcement to track and stop the illegal calls.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

#MeToo: I was sexually assaulted by a physical therapist

On Nov. 7, 1991, I was sexually abused by a physical therapist. I began going to his office on Oct. 1, 1991, because I had injured my back. Part of my treatment was to receive a back massage. My initial visit on Oct. 1 included a consultation with him, and he gave me a back massage. After that visit, female staff members gave me a number of back massages.

However, at one visit, the physical therapist came into the room when I was having a conversation with a female who was massaging my back about being single, 50 years old, and dating. After that, he gave me back massages.

On the Nov. 7, 1991, back massage, I was wearing a gown that tied in the back and my bra had been removed. I was lying on my stomach, and the gown was untied.