The Pennsylvania Health Law Project has released the December edition of the Senior Health News, it's free bi-monthly newsletter. Prior editions of the newsletter and more information about the Pennsylvania Health Law Project is available on their website at www.phlp.org.  

The December edition of the Senior Health News includes the following articles:

• In Depth Q&A: Prescription Coverage Limits for Adults on Medicaid Start January 3, 2012
• Medicare Annual Disenrollment Period Starts January 1st
• Common Special Enrollment Periods for Medicare Beneficiaries
• No Part D Co-Pays for Waiver Recipients Starting January 1st
• Reminder about Medicare’s Transition Requirements for Part D
• Happy Holidays from PHLP! 

Senior Health News - December 2011

The November edition of the PA Health Law News, a free bi-monthly newsletter from the Pennsylvania Health Law Project is now available. To subscribe to this newsletter, view prior editions or for more information about the Pennsylvania Health Law Project, please visit their website at www.phlp.org.

The November edition of the PA Health Law News includes the following articles:

• Medical Assistance Pharmacy Benefit to be Capped Monthly
• DPW to Purge More Medical Assistance Recipients
• Possible Co-Payments for Children with Disabilities
• RFP Issued for HealthChoices Expansion
• More Medical Assistance Managed Care Plans Decide to Implement Dental Limits
• …and many more!

View PA Health Law News - November 2011

Taxpayers can get the most out of various recovery tax benefits and get a jump on preparing their 2011 federal income tax returns by consulting a newly revised comprehensive tax guide now available on IRS.gov.

Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax, features details on taking advantage of a wide range of tax-saving opportunities, such as the American opportunity credit for parents and college students, and the child tax credit and expanded earned income tax credit for low- and moderate-income workers. This useful 303-page guide also provides more than 5,000 interactive links to help taxpayers quickly get answers to their questions.

The Internal Revenue Service has announced that tax-exempt organizations with January and February filing due dates will have until March 30, 2012, to file their annual returns.

The IRS is granting this extension of time to file because the part of the e-file system that processes electronically filed returns of tax-exempt organizations will be off-line during January and February. The agency stressed that the rest of the e-file system will continue to operate normally and urged all individuals and businesses to choose the accuracy, speed and convenience of electronic filing.

Individuals and businesses making contributions to charity should keep in mind several important tax law provisions that have taken effect in recent years including Special Charitable Contributions for Certain IRA Owners; changes to rules for clothing and household items; and new guidelines for monetary donations.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Assistant Secretary Sandra B. Henriquez has announced that HUD is joining forces with GreatSchools, a national non-profit educational resource for parents. The intent of this new partnership is to give parents living in public housing or who receive HUD Housing Choice Voucher rental assistance greater access to local school information that will help them make more informed decisions about where to send their children to school.

Based in San Francisco, GreatSchools is a national non-profit organization that supports parents through a wide variety of web-based resources available at www.greatschools.org. The organization’s flagship offering is a database of school performance information for more than 200,000 public, private and charter schools across the U.S. The user-friendly website also has information about how parents can help their children achieve success in PreK-12, including subject-area worksheets, homework help and college preparation.

The Justice Department announced on December 1 that it is opening civil investigations into two state correctional institutions (SCI) in Western Pennsylvania. In accordance with the pattern or practice provision of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), the department will investigate allegations that SCI Pittsburgh failed to adequately protect prisoners from harm, including from prisoner-on-prisoner and officer-on-prisoner violence and sexual violence, in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In addition, the department will look into whether SCI Pittsburgh officers systematically targeted prisoners for violence and other abuse based on the prisoners’ race, sexual orientation, gender identity or other status, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The department will also investigate allegations that SCI Cresson provided inadequate mental health care to prisoners who have mental illness, failed to adequately protect such prisoners from harm, and subjected them to excessively prolonged periods of isolation, in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.