“We finally beat Medicare,” President Joe Biden claimed during his calamitous June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump. The White House later clarified: “He meant to say that he beat big pharma.” But seniors’ wallets are taking the beating. Changes made to Medicare’s prescription drug coverage by the Biden-Harris administration and congressional Democrats—with not a single Republican vote—as part of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act are sending premiums sky-high, eliminating plans for at least 3 million seniors, and making it harder to access medications. The data shows that under four years of Biden-Harris administration policies (plan years 2022 through 2025), the national average monthly premium paid by Medicare beneficiaries for stand-alone Part D prescription drug plans has increased by 57%. At the same time, the average number of plans offered in each state has dropped by more than one-half, from 29 in 2021 to just 14 in 2025. Seniors in some states face even bigger hits to their wallets. Under the Biden-Harris administration, Medicare drug plan premiums jumped by more than 90% in 10 states. Premiums more than doubled in three of those states (California, 122%; New York, 116%; and Nevada, 104%). On Oct. 1, seniors were able to start “window shopping” Medicare drug plans for next year and will be able to enroll in their chosen plans starting Tuesday, Oct. 15.  Many of them already are expressing their sticker shock on community forms: “So I just got a new notice telling me that my drug plan D (not an advantage plan since I am on SSDI in NJ under 65) the monthly cost for 2025 has doubled. Plan still makes me pay high cost for anything not generic etc. I thought this new law was to reduce my overall cost but reading the updated booklet (AARP United Healthcare plan) seems to me the higher cost is going to pad them not me.” “… [my] husband’s increase was over 650%. And deductible also increased over 100%. You are going to want to check the formulary list if taking any prescription meds. One of the expensive meds husband is on wasn’t pricing out … when I went to the government website for [Aetna] SilverScript, it’s because it’s not covered anymore (nor is the generic covered) …” “They are no longer offering the plan I have this year for next year. This company is only offering one plan D, not 3 like last year.  My current premium is $9.90 and my 3 prescriptions have a $0 copay per month.  The new plan is $44.90 with $5 and $10 copays per month.  That is a huge increase.”  To prevent seniors from experiencing an even bigger sticker shock just before the Nov. 5 election, the Biden-Harris administration decided to spend—without congressional authorization or approval—at least another $5 billion. The spending is for a new “demonstration project” that pays insurers extra if they agree not to increase premiums by more than $35 a month in 2025. Specifically, the project does three things: Applies a uniform reduction of $15 to the base beneficiary premium for all plans. Limits premium increases to $35 per month. Limits risk to plans (and increases taxpayer losses) by narrowing Part D risk corridors. According to the Congressional Budget Office, this “demonstration project” will cost taxpayers $7 billion next year alone, with the program set to run for two more years. Because the Inflation Reduction Act made the market much more expensive, taxpayers will pay another $10 to $20 billion in 2025, according to the CBO. So much for savings. The CBO also said that its original score of the IRA undercounted the cost of the Part D changes by $10 to $20 billion. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, projected premiums would decrease in 2025. But that’s not reality. What CMS is concealing is that the average monthly premium is increasing despite the demo, and many plans will cost significantly above the average. Not only are premiums way up but coverage choices are way down and millions of beneficiaries are losing their existing plans. Once flush with plan options, the program is experiencing a devastating downturn. Seniors have fewer plans to choose from in 2025 than at any point in the program’s 19-year history. For instance, CVS Aetna offered three plans in every state in 2024 but discontinued two of them for 2025, one of which was the second-most popular of all plans in 2024. Similarly, UnitedHealthcare and Mutual of Omaha also each offered three plans nationwide in 2024. For 2025, though, United is offering two plans while Mutual of Omaha has dropped out of the program entirely. Higher premiums and fewer plan choices aren’t the only adverse effects on seniors stemming from the higher costs imposed on Medicare drug plans by Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act. Plans are trying to avoid the need for even bigger premium hikes by also increasing the coinsurance amounts that enrollees pay for prescriptions. Making a bad situation worse, the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug price controls will start to take effect in 2026. Those price controls discourage investment in drug development and will reduce the number of new medicines. The price controls also are likely to trigger secondary effects on Medicare prescription drug plans. Those will be in the form of changes to the placement of drugs on formularies and the imposition of utilization management strategies such as prior authorization and step therapy that restrict patient access. Higher costs for taxpayers and consumers, and fewer treatments for patients. Now you know what “we finally beat Medicare” really means. The post Biden-Harris Admin’s Medicare Shock for Seniors appeared first on The Daily Signal.

It's easy to look back at history and think it was always going to turn out as it did. Most people with a little economic literacy can kind of come up with a sentence or two about why the 2008 economic crisis was inevitable, for example, or why the dot-com bust was clear as day. Of course, the people who actually saw those events around the corner became very rich and got their faces on magazine covers, their stories in books, and Tom Cruise playing out their story on the big screen. None of that happened to you, did it? Fortunately, politics is a little easier, and if you can pull your head out of the polls, look at the candidates for who they actually are, and talk to normal people, you can make a pretty strong guess on where they’re going. Bear with me here and take a look at the last half-century of American politics. Former Fox News kingpin Roger Ailes had a rule about on-screen talent: women you’d be friends with (or date) and men you’d want to have a beer with (or date). President Jimmy Carter was a guy who pushed his “humble peanut farmer” bit to the brink, pretended to carry his own suitcases (they were empty; aides carried his actual luggage), extended dictatorial control over the White House tennis courts, and acted like a wuss on the international stage. Carter made us feel better about Watergate and a little more moral after the Vietnam disaster, so we gave him a shot in ’76. He beat Gerald Ford, whom no one voted into office and fewer liked. In 1980, Carter had to defend the title against Ronald Reagan, a California governor with literal movie-star good looks, a voice minted on the radio, and a promise to manifest a depressed nation’s Greatest Generation nostalgia. Who was going to win? Four years later, Carter’s vice president, Walter Mondale, didn’t stand a chance. But fast-forwarding a few years, how about Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, the handsome, energetic, young, and cool moderate versus President George H.W. Bush, who talked like Dean Wormer and struggled in a grocery checkout line? Was Sen. Bob Dole cool enough to take Clinton down? There was a lot of hope! Clinton’s White House was mired in scandal, but things were going great in America, and for whatever reason, Dole hid his personality and sense of humor as best he could. Clinton crushed him. Then Democrats threw that nerd vice president, Al Gore, up against Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who chuckled, threw his cowboy boots on the desk, and won. So Democrats went back to the lab and found a guy just as weird as Gore but made him a windsurfer. They were so desperate for a veteran willing to run post-9/11 that they found the guy who threw his medals into the Reflecting Pool on national TV and called his comrades baby-killers. The stage at the DNC that year looked like a cross between a Bass Pro Shop and the set of “M*A*S*H.” It didn’t work. Sen. John Kerry lost. Or how about Sen. Barack Obama versus Sen. John McCain? A cultural movement that represented tomorrow and the promise of America’s racial redemption against the grumpy hero of a divisive war 40 years in the past? Then they ran the cool guy again against Gov. Mitt Romney. Even though a majority — a majority — of Americans thought the country was going in the wrong direction, in the end, it came down to the king of layoffs with binders full of women, Mr. CEO himself vs. Obama. Even though every poll showed Obama winning, the Republican eggheads were sure they were going to get him. Ho-hum. Former Fox News kingpin Roger Ailes had a rule about on-screen talent: women you’d be friends with (or date) and men you’d want to have a beer with (or date). It might sound outdated or sexist or backward to those who spent years and $100,000 to be taught that common sense is actually oppression, but it’s straightforward, it’s true, and you can see it in politics every election. Consider Vice President Kamala Harris. She’s not likeable. Sorry, but President Joe Biden doesn’t even like her. Obama doesn’t like her. Former first lady Michelle Obama really doesn’t like her. Oprah Winfrey has to work hard to sell her. Honestly, Kamala doesn’t even seem so into it herself. Over the past week's media tour, she was stilted, nervous, and low-energy whenever she was talking about politics. The only subject she lit up on was her personal life. The only policy that gets her going is abortion. If she wasn’t powerful or running for office and all that mattered was her personality, would you want to have beer with Kamala? Compare that to former President Donald Trump, who by all accounts is on top of his game. The rage and frustration that dominated his 2020 campaign are all but gone. He’s back to his funny self, dancing and cracking jokes on the campaign trail. Even the mysterious aura of 2016 has evaporated. NFL stars and comedians are openly on his side. You can wear a MAGA hat to most beaches — and when the white lady flips out, she’s the weirdo. There are a lot of polls out there, and most are pointing in the same direction: The floor is dropping out from under Harris and voters are breaking toward Trump (though Pennsylvania remains stubbornly close — and stubbornly necessary to victory). But setting aside that loose science for a minute, consider the candidates. Is this Kamala’s year? In hindsight, I suspect the answer will look pretty obvious. Sign up for Bedford’s newsletter Sign up to get Blaze Media senior politics editor Christopher Bedford's newsletter.

The iPhone 16 should be at the top of your list, whether you're buying your first iPhone or upgrading your current model. Apple Intelligence is the reason why. It might not be available right now, and you might not even like or want genAI. But Apple Intelligence is here to stay, and it's only improving. I'm sure you'll use parts of it and take it for granted in the coming years. That's why purchasing one of the four iPhone 16 models makes perfect sense, especially if you plan to keep your new iPhone for three or four years. However, I also get that the iPhone 16 might seem boring. And it could be too expensive for many people, too, with the cheapest model starting at $799. This is where I'll repeat myself: there is an iPhone 16 alternative that will be much cheaper but can still support Apple Intelligence. That's the oft-rumored iPhone SE 4, which should launch in the coming months. We still don't have a firm release date, but we're starting to see more iPhone SE 4 cases leak, which is a hint that the product is real and coming soon. Continue reading... The post Leaked iPhone SE 4 case shows us Apple’s major design changes appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Best Echo Dot deals for October 2024 ECOVACS Fall Prime Day blowout: Up to $350 off best-selling robot vacuums like the T30S Early Prime Day deals: Apple blowout, KitchenAid Stand Mixers, Dyson vacuums, $23 Echo Dot, OLED TVs, more Today’s deals: $40 in Amazon credit, Nintendo Switch games, $20 waterproof Bluetooth speaker, more

The senior naval officer in the U.S. military, the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, released a new strategy and vision for the U.S. Navy in September that was met with muted praise. 

Just how divided are supporters of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris? Very, according to a survey conducted on issues including guns, immigration, religion, gender identity, policing. and more.

The Kremlin said that NATO's annual nuclear exercise involving nuclear-capable military aircraft, which began on Monday, was fueling tensions in light of the "hot war" unfolding in Ukraine. NATO was due to begin its annual "Steadfast Noon" nuclear exercise on Monday, the...

WASHINGTON, DC—In a bold and historic gesture, Vice President Kamala Harris marked this year’s Indigenous People’s Day with a dazzling ceremony that included the ritual sacrifice of 666 innocent people to the Aztec sun god, Huitzilopochtli. The Vice President, decked out in ceremonial headdress and feathered robes, called the event “a necessary step toward healing” while denouncing “the horrors of that genocidal maniac, Columbus.” “This is what real respect looks like,” Harris said to a cheering crowd of activists and anthropology majors, who live-streamed the event from TikTok accounts adorned with “Land Back” hashtags. “This isn’t just about symbolism. It’s about action—bloody, ceremonial action—because Indigenous wisdom teaches us that nothing says ‘gratitude’ like spilling blood on a pyramid altar at sunrise.” The Ritual Begins As the first drumbeats echoed across the National Mall, 666 volunteers—identified as “problematic individuals” (including taxpaying homeowners and people who asked for ID at voting booths)—were led to the summit of a life-sized replica of a Mesoamerican temple. Harris, wielding an obsidian knife, addressed the crowd: “Today, we honor the vibrant, sacred traditions of those who came before us by giving Huitzilopochtli what he craves—an offering that will keep the sun in the sky and the discourse in our favor.” The volunteers, oddly calm, were assured by a team of cultural consultants that their sacrifice was both “anti-colonial” and “deeply respectful.” Each participant was also promised 10% off their next oat milk latte at participating coffee shops. Activists Applaud Harris’s Leadership Progressive activists hailed the ceremony as a revolutionary break from colonial holidays. “Finally, we’re doing something authentic,” said Mx. Sandra Chou, PhD PhD (she/they/grrrl), author of The Patriarchy Must Bleed. “I used to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day by posting memes about stolen land, but this… This is the work.” The Vice President’s office issued a statement clarifying that “only willing sacrifices were chosen”, though it’s unclear if participants knew their ‘willingness’ was determined via Instagram poll. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre assured reporters that “everyone involved was privileged to be part of this transformative experience” and “any claims of human rights violations are rooted in Eurocentric thinking.” A Break From the Past The ceremony was part of a broader push to reframe America’s historical narratives. “We must decolonize not just our holidays, but our actions,” Harris said as she smeared herself with ceremonial paint. “And honestly, Columbus? That guy never even retweeted Greta Thunberg.” The celebration also featured drumming circles, face painting, and a raffle to win a free electric scooter, all organized to divert attention from the absence of emergency disaster relief efforts for North Carolina, still recovering from Hurricane Helene. “Sacrifices have to be made,” Harris said, “in more ways than one.” Criticism Met With Condemnation Some Republicans criticized the event, calling it “barbaric” and “an outrageous waste of 666 innocent lives.” Tucker Carlson, broadcasting live from an undisclosed cabin, referred to the ritual as “the left’s latest attack on Western civilization.” However, Harris’s supporters were quick to shut down detractors. “Criticizing this sacred ritual is an act of violence,” tweeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “If you’re against mass sacrifice, you’re basically pro-Columbus.” Even the Aztec sun god Huitzilopochtli released a brief statement through a spiritual medium, saying, “I wasn’t expecting this… but hey, thanks!” Looking Forward The event ended with Harris triumphantly declaring: “This is just the beginning! We will not stop until every problematic holiday is replaced with something far more culturally enriching.” Sources say that next year’s July 4th celebrations may feature a ceremonial burning of the U.S. Constitution, followed by a reenactment of pre-colonial warfare on White House grounds. Meanwhile, federal workers have been granted the rest of the week off to “process and reflect on their internalized colonialism” and update their pronouns. Harris was last seen boarding Air Force Two, still holding the obsidian knife, saying, “Let’s do Thanksgiving next!” The post Kamala Harris sacrifices 666 innocent people to Aztec sun god to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of that evil Columbus Day appeared first on Genesius Times.

Decades after playing Al Borland on Home Improvement, Richard Karn appeared on the streets of Los Angeles with his wife Tudi Roche as they went grocery shopping. The ‘90s sitcom star kept it simple with a golf shirt, shorts, and a pair of slip-on sneakers as he strutted the city while on the phone. Karn looked different and unrecognizable, as he now lost some weight and left his gray hair to flourish. He still has his beard, which is mostly silver all through and well-trimmed. Karn looked handsome and fit for 64 and the lurking cameras made sure to capture that. Richard Karn 25 years after ‘Home Improvement’  ‘Home Improvement’ star Richard Karn shows off slimmed-down physique since ‘90s heyday https://t.co/1o0fAZ9MFE — Debbie Gayhart (@gayhartdebbie1) October 13, 2024   Karn’s character starred alongside Tim Allen’s Taylor, who was the co-host for the Tool Time show in Home Improvement. The series ended in 1999, and Karn continued his hosting duties in real life on Family Feud and then Game Show Network’s Bingo America in 2008. Interestingly, actor Stephen Tobolowsky was originally cast as Al but got replaced by Karn due to scheduling issues. Karn landed the role by fate, thanks to Tudi, who convinced him to move to Los Angeles, where he met the agent who encouraged him to audition. HOME IMPROVEMENT, from left, Tim Allen, Richard Karn / Everett Life after ‘Home Improvement’ After Home Improvement came more opportunities for Karn as he became a fan favorite. He did commercials, hosted shows, and appeared in The Strokes’ music video for “Someday” as the Family Feud host against Guides by Voices. He also starred in the second MVP series, Most Vertical Primate and Mr. Blue Sky in the 2000s, and a few episodes of That ‘70s Show.             View this post on Instagram                         A post shared by Richard Karn (@officialrichardkarn)   Aside from his acting career, Karn is also a successful author in the home improvement genre. He released two books— House Broken: How I Remodeled My Home for Just Under Three Times the Original Bid and Handy at Home: Tips on Improving Your Home from America’s Favorite Handyman with former CBS editorial director George Mair. Karn is the father of one, and he is with Tudi, his spouse of nearly four decades. Next up: John Travolta And His Daughter Look Glum In New York On What Would’ve Been Kelly Preston’s 61st Birthday The post Richard Karn From ‘90s Sitcom ‘Home Improvement’ Looks Completely Unrecognizable 25 Years Later appeared first on DoYouRemember? - The Home of Nostalgia. Author, Peace A

Nameberry’s name expert Sophie Kihm explained why some old names have become fashionable again in recent times, noting that there is a 100-year rule that determines what becomes popular at the time. Sophia added that naming preferences go in cycles, therefore names that are uncool now will be top-choice in the future, just like the cool ones now were hardly considered years ago. According to her statement, names from the ‘20s will become more stylish in the coming years. Baby names recycle as the older generations leave Photo by Colin Maynard on Unsplash According to Sophie, names make a comeback when the generation that had them begins to phase out. In this case, names like Brenda and Gary from great-grandparents are getting back in style. Others like Olive, Otis, Florence, Theodore, and Felix are also becoming common among new babies. On the other hand, grandparent and parent generation names like Stephanie, Kieran, Ellen, and Tony are slowly going out of fashion, due to how often they have been used. They will likely become the preference in the next century, but for now, people want to hear new names and are reaching back to the far past. Photo by Mindy Olson P on Unsplash Constant classics Some names are an exception to the 100-year rule and have remained classics through generations; for example, James, Thomas, Henry, George, William, and Alexander have remained top options in the United Kingdom, specifically England and Wales. Photo by Luke Michael on Unsplash This can be easily explained by these names’ relation to the British royal family, particularly the male members of the institution. They particularly have more value placed on them as they held priority positions in the line of succession until recent times. Feminine names from the royal family are more decorative; hence, Britons tend to choose what sounds sweet to their baby girls at the time. Next up: Richard Karn From ‘90s Sitcom ‘Home Improvement’ Looks Completely Unrecognizable 25 Years Later The post These Popular Baby Names From The ‘20s Are Making A Comeback appeared first on DoYouRemember? - The Home of Nostalgia. Author, Peace A