WASHINGTON — If you’re on federal disability payments and on social media, be careful what you post. Uncle Sam wants to watch. The Trump administration has been quietly working on a proposal to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to help identify people who claim Social Security disability benefits without actually being disabled. If,…
WASHINGTON – One man, alarmed at the thought that hackers might attack his computer, shelled out $14,990 to a company promising a “fix” that would keep it safe. Eight months later, the 68-year-old from Hawaii mailed the same company a check for $24,999 more. And he kept paying. All told, the unnamed man, who suffers…
By 2035, economists predict seniors will represent the second-largest group of renters in the country High home prices aren’t stopping more Americans from becoming homeowners. But seniors are bucking that trend. The homeownership rate nationwide was 64.8% in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s up from 64.4%…
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday warned 12 sellers of dietary supplements to stop claiming their products can cure diseases ranging from Alzheimer’s to cancer to diabetes. At the same time, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the agency’s commissioner, suggested that Congress strengthen the F.D.A.’s authority over an estimated $40 billion industry, which sells as many as 80,000…
There is a new effort underway in Congress to do away with rules that allow employers to pay people with disabilities less than minimum wage. A bill recently introduced in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives would put an end to what’s known as subminimum wage. Under a law dating back to…
People with disabilities are feeling pressure from the nation’s longest-ever government shutdown, whether they work for a shuttered federal agency, live in subsidized housing or receive food stamps, advocates say. Although some of the primary federal agencies that serve people with disabilities are open, such as the Social Security Administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid…
Thomas and Rosemary Welsh knew nothing about annuities and would never have invested their retirement funds in them had their financial adviser not recommended it. “He told us we would make more money, have better interest rates and not lose money,” said Ms. Welsh, 78. “He was the financial professional and our friend, and we…
TALLAHASSEE Floridians will now have less time to apply for Medicaid coverage if they want healthcare costs retroactively covered, after federal officials approved a state request Friday to shorten how far back the state’s program can pick up the bill. The change, which critics have charged will limit access to healthcare for the poor, elderly…
The U.S. Department of Education is reversing course after being sued over changes to its handling of disability discrimination complaints in schools. Just before Thanksgiving, the Education Department rescinded a provision adopted in March that allowed the agency’s Office for Civil Rights to dismiss any complaint that is part of a pattern of complaints by…
One day, MRI brain scans may help predict whether older people will develop dementia, new research suggests. In a small study, MRI brain scans predicted with 89 percent accuracy who would go on to develop dementia within three years, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of…