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Uncle Sam wants you … to help stop insurers’ bogus Medicare Advantage sales tactics

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:13:51 GMT

Susan Jaffe | KFF Health News (TNS)After an unprecedented crackdown on misleading advertising claims by insurers selling private Medicare Advantage and drug plans, the Biden administration hopes to unleash a special weapon to make sure companies follow the new rules: you.Officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are encouraging seniors and other members of the public to become fraud detectives by reporting misleading or deceptive sales tactics to 800-MEDICARE, the agency’s 24-hour information hotline. Suspects include postcards designed to look like they’re from the government and TV ads with celebrities promising benefits and low fees that are available only to some people in certain counties.The new rules, which took effect Sept. 30, close some loopholes in existing requirements by describing what insurers can say in ads and other promotional materials as well as during the enrollment process.Insurance companies’ advertising campaigns kick into high gear every ...

Boston College and SMU excited to go bowling at Fenway Park

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:13:51 GMT

The Southern Methodist Mustangs can anticipate a warm and cold reception when they encounter the Eagles of Boston College in the second annual Wasabi Fenway Bowl at Fenway Park on Dec. 28.The ACC will go all in for one of its three newest members that will compete at an historic venue within a vast and lucrative media market. SMU (11-2, 8-0) closed it its run in the American Athletic Conference by winning the league title and will join California and Stanford in the ACC next season.“I am really excited about SMU, they are a top 25 team and they have great players and they are well coached,” said BC coach Jeff Hafley, who is out of town on a recruiting trip.“They are going to be an ACC opponent next year and I’m excited about it. I think it will be a good matchup and I’m sure our players are excited, too. It is a really good team that a lot of people thought was going to go to a New Year’s six bowl game.”The organizers at Fenway have a grand reception planned for the Mustangs at the ...

Bitcoin blast: Cryptocurrency cracks $41K for the first time since April 2022

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:13:51 GMT

NEW YORK — Bitcoin is once again having a moment. On Monday, the world’s largest cryptocurrency soared past $41,000 for the first time in over a year and a half — and marking a 150% rise so far this year.Volatile bitcoin rocketed from just over $5,000 at the start of the pandemic to nearly $68,000 in November 2021, according to FactSet, a period marked by a surge in demand for technology products. Prices fell back to earth during an aggressive series of Federal Reserve rate hikes aimed at taming inflation and then the collapse of FTX, one of the biggest companies in crypto.When 2023 began, a single bitcoin could be had for less than $17,000 after losing more than 75% of its value. Investors, however, began returning in large numbers as inflation started to cool. And the collapse of prominent tech-focused banks actually led more investors to turn to crypto as they bailed out of positions in Silicon Valley start-ups and other risky bets.Fueling this latest rally are prospects fo...

What some caregivers have learned caring for ill loved ones

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:13:51 GMT

“It’s not the most comfortable moment that I’m having, but there are these radical lessons.”That’s how performer/writer Chris Wells describes the experience of moving with his husband from New York back to his childhood home in Lancaster, Calif. What was intended to be a short-term visit to help settle his mother into a retirement community has been extended and complicated by her frailty, and the challenges of untangling a complex web of social and medical services.And then there’s Elizabeth Aquino in Los Angeles, who has accumulated more than a quarter-century of lived experience as a full-time caregiver since her daughter was diagnosed with a seizure disorder. Aquino has become well-versed in the ins-and-outs of accessibility and disability rights. She has successfully advocated for everything from changing tables in high school restrooms to the use of medical marijuana for seizure treatment, but, even after all this time, much feels beyond her ken.“People say they couldn’t do wh...

You’re sick. It’s the holidays. Your doctor is booked, but here is how to get the medication you need

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:13:51 GMT

With germs spreading and cold and flu season underway, no one wants to spend days in bed, especially during holiday season. Many of the illnesses spreading can be shortened and symptoms relieved by getting the right medication quickly.But getting into a doctor’s office can be challenging. A doctor shortage in Florida has led to long wait times for appointments with internal medicine and family practitioners. But there are other options.Your symptoms and timing should guide your path.If you have aches, a cough, congestion, or a sore throat and want to feel better, you first will want to determine whether you have COVID, the flu, RSV,  or strep throat.  Getting a rapid test for these illnesses will give you a diagnosis.A COVID test can be done at home. If the test is positive and you are at risk for severe COVID. If so, you will need to ask your doctor or a pharmacist for a prescription. Paxlovid must be taken within five days after symptoms begin.If a COVID test is negative, an urgen...

York police launch campaign to encourage survivors of intimate partner violence to report

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:13:51 GMT

York Regional Police and their partners are launching a new campaign to encourage victims and survivors of intimate partner violence to report those responsible.The three-month campaign will see advertisements being put on billboards and buses, encouraging victims and survivors of intimate partner violence to report physical, sexual or emotional abuse. A number for help is provided to the York Region Center for Community Safety along with statistics that raise awareness on what’s been called an epidemic in Canada, including that every six days, a woman is killed by her partner.Police have partnered with the York Region Centre for Community Safety (YRCCS) and 482 Collective, which provide a variety of services, resources and essential items. The centre will have extended hours, seven days a week, during the 30-day campaign in order to provide survivors with the most opportunities to access support.“This is huge, this is the first of its kind. There aren’t enough PSA...

Man featured in ‘S-Town’ podcast shot and killed by police during standoff, authorities say

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:13:51 GMT

WOODSTOCK, Ala. (AP) — A man featured in the hit podcast “S-Town” that chronicled events in a rural Alabama community was shot and killed by police during a weekend standoff in the town, authorities said Monday. Joseph Tyler Goodson, 32, of Woodstock, was shot and killed by officers after he barricaded himself inside a home and “brandished a gun” at officers early Sunday, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said.The agency’s statement said the Woodstock Police Department had initially responded to a “call for service” early Sunday and the standoff ensued. Multiple law enforcement agencies converged on the home. The statement said Goodson was shot by officers during the confrontation and was subsequently pronounced dead.The state agency did not describe what led to the initial call to the home. “Police bout to shoot me down in my own yard,” a message posted early Sunday on Goodson’s Facebook account read, news outlets, WIAT and al.com reported. The state agency...

Venezuela’s government wins vote on claiming part of Guyana, but turnout seems lackluster

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:13:51 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro got the victory he sought in a weekend referendum on whether to claim sovereignty over an oil-rich area of neighboring Guyana. But lackluster turnout suggested his government is losing influence and is tone deaf to people’s needs.Maduro’s government had promoted the referendum for weeks as a unifying act of patriotism, including with theater performances and reggaeton music.Venezuela’s National Electoral Council on Monday reported participation in the referendum of about 10.5 million voters, which would have been just over half of the 20.6 million eligible people. But those figures defied what people witnessed at voting centers, where long lines typical of Venezuelan elections never formed.The vote centered around a vast territory known as Essequibo, which Venezuelans have long argued was stolen from them when the border with present-day Guyana was drawn more than a century ago. Maduro’s government still had not exp...

CBC says it is cutting 600 jobs, some programming

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:13:51 GMT

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and Radio-Canada will eliminate about 600 jobs and an additional 200 vacancies will go unfilled as it contends with $125 million in budget pressures.The public broadcaster says CBC and Radio-Canada will each cut about 250 jobs, with the balance of the layoffs coming from its corporate divisions like technology and infrastructure.It has also identified about 200 currently vacant positions that will be eliminated.Along with the job cuts, CBC will be reducing its English and French programming budgets, resulting in fewer renewals and acquisitions, new television series, episodes of existing shows and digital original series.It attributed the cuts to rising production costs, declining television advertising revenue and fierce competition from the digital giants. At the end of March, CBC had some 6,500 permanent employees, about 2,000 temporary workers and roughly 760 contract staff.The cuts at CBC come days after the Liberal government suggested it m...

Ohio Republicans propose nixing home grow, increasing taxes in sweeping changes to legal marijuana

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:13:51 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Banning marijuana growing at home, increasing the substance’s tax rate and altering how those taxes get distributed are among vast changes Ohio Senate Republicans proposed Monday to a marijuana legalization measure approved by voters last month. The changes emerged suddenly in committee just days before the new law is set to take effect, though their fate in the full Senate and the GOP-led House is still unclear.The ballot measure, dubbed Issue 2, passed on the Nov. 7 election with 57% of the vote and it set to become law this Thursday, making Ohio the 24th state to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use. But as a citizen-initiated statute, the Legislature is free to make tweaks on it, of which they’re attempting plenty. “The goal of this committee is to provide the people’s wishes with a safe product,” Sen. Michael Rulli, a Columbiana County Republican, said during a meeting of the Senate General Government Committee, where the changes were ...