Sneak Peak On September 1st, the more than a dozen senior-friendly consumer protection laws took effect. From the strongest prescription drug price- transparency laws in the nation and a host of new consumer protections against surprise health care costs to measures focused on nursing home safety, older worker training, guardianship abuse deterrence, rural broadband access, and more. Here’s a look at some of the new Texas laws taking effect that AARP supported: • Nursing Home Resident Safety: HB 2050 seeks to end the chemical restraint of nursing home residents by requiring written consent from the resident or family member prior to the administration of antipsychotic drug. Under this new law, when those powerful medicines are given, the risks, benefits and alternative treatment options must be disclosed in writing. • Prescription Drug Price Transparency: HB 2536 requires that prescription drug costs be publicly explained to consumers and posted on the Texas Health and Human Services’ website. Under the measure, consumers will learn when the price of a medication is increased by more than 15 percent in one year or 40 percent over three years. Texas passes senior-friendly consumer protection laws PG 2 PG 3 PG 4 EmeraldCottages.com of what’s inside! Happy Birthday to... Society Pics: Celebrating events & holidays A Walk Down Memory Lane: First man made object reaches the moon // Continue to page 2 ... 4th Quarter 2019 // Issue 5
Transcript
Sneak PeakOn September 1st, the more than a dozen senior-friendly consumer protection laws took effect. From the strongest prescription drug price-transparency laws in the nation and a host of new consumer protections against surprise health care costs to measures focused on nursing home safety, older worker training, guardianship abuse deterrence, rural broadband access, and more.
Here’s a look at some of the new Texas laws taking effect that AARP supported:
• Nursing Home Resident Safety: HB 2050 seeks to end the chemical restraint of nursing home residents by requiring written consent from the
resident or family member prior to the administration of antipsychotic drug. Under this new law, when those powerful medicines are given, the risks, benefits and alternative treatment options must be disclosed in writing.
• Prescription Drug Price Transparency: HB 2536 requires that prescription drug costs be publicly explained to consumers and posted on the Texas Health and Human Services’ website. Under the measure, consumers will learn when the price of a medication is increased by more than 15 percent in one year or 40 percent over three years.
A Walk Down Memory Lane: First man made object reaches the moon
// Continue to page 2 ...
4th Quarter 2019 // Issue 5
Emerald Society // 4th Quarter 2019 // Issue 5
• Surprise Medical Bill Protections: Portions of SB 1264 to end surprise medical bills goes into effect now but the meat of the measure will be effective Jan. 1, 2020. The new law will mandate that charges from out-of-network personnel at a facility be resolved between the provider and the patient’s insurance company, with the patient never being billed for costs above in-network deductibles or copays.
• Freestanding Emergency Room Safeguards: Hundreds of freestanding emergency rooms exist in Texas, typically in major urban areas. They often resemble urgent care clinics but some regularly charge high emergency-room prices, with patients leaving confused about whether their insurance will cover the charges. New laws, stemming from HB 1941 and HB 2041 will require freestanding ERs to clearly disclose the in-network health plans they access, ban price gouging, and prohibit misleading advertising.
• Rural Broadband Access: Broadband, or high-speed Internet, delivers new technologies that are improving the quality of life for people of all ages, and can help older Texans live independently in their homes and communities. It also combats social isolation and improves wellbeing by supporting services like distance learning and telehealth. But access to broadband is sometimes sparse in rural Texas. HB 2422 is among broadband measures AARP backed. It will require coordination of certain broadband projects by the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
• Guardianship Abuse Deterrence: A guardian is someone who is authorized, under watch by the courts, to perforce certain tasks to care and protect someone else. To improve oversight of guardians and spot abuse, fraud or exploitation, SB 31 – along with new funding in the budget -- provides more monitoring tools to ensure that guardians live up to their important duty.
• Primary Care from Nurse Practitioners: HB 278 removes certain meeting requirements for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses to improve their ability to provide primary care, especially in rural areas.
• Older Worker Training: HB 1074 ends a discriminatory policy in the state’s Labor Code pertaining to trainings for certain older employees.
WACO:// September• 16th - Doris C.• 23rd - Peggy N.
// October• 22nd - Tom P.• 30th - Barbara W.
// November• 4th - Don W.• 10th - Larry W.
// December• 12th - Margaret H.• 23rd - Dwan N.
ROUND ROCK:// September• 6th - Tommy K.
// October• 5th - Betty S.• 11th - Linda W.• 13th - Gwen J.
// November• 23rd - Earl S.
// December• 13th - Brenda K.
Happy Birthday
Emerald Society // 4th Quarter 2019 // Issue 5
1) Birthday fun at Emerald Cottages of Kerrville! 2) Hot Dogs & Brats for our Annual 4th of July Cookout at our Kerrville Community. 3) Kerrville residents getting to know one another by telling a story about their lives. 4) After the cooking is done, Dawn - Activities Director, and Kierin - Community Director, take a break and enjoy time with the residents! 5) It’s not everyday that a special man like Jack Hughes turns 90! Happy 90th birthday from your family at Emerald Cottages of Stonebridge. 6) McKinney residents enjoying a Frisco RoughRiders game. 7- 9) Emerald Cottages of Waco celebrates the 4th of July with a pot luck lunch BBQ. 10) An educational event from the BBB on the Top 10 Scams at Waco. 11) Monthly resident luncheon in August with Angelfood Cake made by one of our residents at Round Rock. 12 &13) Shirley Marquardt from Round Rock Preservation, giving a talk on the history of Round Rock. Residents from Round Rock & Franklin Park Assisted Living attended this event on June 19th in our Clubhouse.
Society Pics: Celebrations & Events 1
3
4
5
2
8
11 12 13
9
10
6
7
Emerald Society // 4th Quarter 2019 // Issue 54
$500forYou
*
and $500 for your Friends!Have friends who would love to live a Zero Maintenance Lifestyle & have time to enjoy their retirement? Refer them to Emerald Cottages and you will both receive $500* in Rent Credit.
Here’s How1) ONLY current residents of Emerald Cottages can submit a referral.2) Provide their contact info to your Community Director.3) Referred customers MUST become new residents.4) And that’s it! The more you refer, the more you could earn.
* $500 Rent Credit is credit used only towards your Emerald Cottages rent. No cash value. No credit transfers. No limit on referred customers. Referrals must come from current residents of Emerald Cottages. Referred customers must become a new Emerald
Cottages resident to receive the $500 Rent Credit. Some registrations may apply.
Luna 2, originally named the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket and nicknamed Lunik 2 in contemporaneous media, was the sixth of the Soviet Union’s Luna programme spacecraft launched to the Moon.
The spacecraft was launched on 12 September 1959 by the Luna 8K72. It followed a direct path to the Moon. In addition to the radio transmitters sending telemetry information back to Earth, the spacecraft released a sodium gas cloud so the spacecraft’s movement could be visually observed. On 13 September 1959, it impacted the Moon’s surface east of Mare Imbrium near the craters Aristides, Archimedes, and Autolycus. It was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon, and the first human-made object to make contact with another celestial body.
It’s a sphere made of pentagonal silver panels with the Soviet state symbol and “USSR January 1959” repeated in Cyrillic in relief. And it’s one of at least two copies of the objects used in the actual mission -- and now scattered around the Moon’s surface, if they survived impact. (The other was gifted to U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower by Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev.)
* Source from www.Wikipedia.com & www.rferl.org
A Walk Down Memory Lane:September 13,1959: First man made object reaches the moon
Mission duration: 1 day, 14 hours, 22 minutes and 42 seconds (launch date to impact date)
