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CRAN boosts NamRA complianceDavid Hilzenrath, Jodie Fleischer, Cox Media Group | (TNS) KFF Health News In March, newly installed Social Security chief Martin O’Malley criticized agency “injustices” that “shock our shared sense of equity and good conscience as Americans.” He promised to overhaul the Social Security Administration’s often heavy-handed efforts to claw back money that millions of recipients — including people who are living in poverty, are elderly, or have disabilities — were allegedly overpaid, as described by a KFF Health News and Cox Media Group investigation last year. “Innocent people can be badly hurt,” O’Malley said at the time. Nearly eight months since he appeared before Congress and announced a series of policy changes, and with two months left in his term, O’Malley’s effort to fix the system has made inroads but remains a work in progress. For instance, one change, moving away from withholding 100% of people’s monthly Social Security benefits to recover alleged overpayments, has been a major improvement, say advocates for beneficiaries. “It is a tremendous change,” said Kate Lang of Justice in Aging, who called it “life-changing for many people.” The number of people from whom the Social Security Administration was withholding full monthly benefits to recoup money declined sharply — from about 46,000 in January to about 7,000 in September, the agency said. Asked to clarify whether those numbers and others provided for this article covered all programs administered by the agency, the SSA press office did not respond. Another potentially significant change — relieving beneficiaries of having to prove that an overpayment was not their fault — has not been implemented. The agency said it is working on that. Meanwhile, the agency seems to be looking to Congress to take the lead on a change some observers see as crucial: limiting how far back the government can reach to recover an alleged overpayment. Barbara Hubbell of Watkins Glen, New York, called the absence of a statute of limitations “despicable.” Hubbell said her mother was held liable for $43,000 because of an SSA error going back 19 years. “In what universe is that even legal?” Hubbell said. Paying down the overpayment balance left her mother “essentially penniless,” she added. In response to questions for this article, Social Security spokesperson Mark Hinkle said legislation is “the best and fastest way” to set a time limit. Establishing a statute of limitations was not among the policy changes O’Malley announced in his March congressional testimony. In an interview at the time, he said he expected an announcement on it “within the next couple few months.” It could probably be done by regulation, without an act of Congress, he said. Speaking generally, Hinkle said the agency has “made substantial progress on overpayments,” reducing the hardship they cause, and “continues to work diligently” to update policies. The agency is underfunded, he added, is at a near 50-year low in staffing, and could do better with more employees. The SSA did not respond to requests for an interview with O’Malley. O’Malley announced the policy changes after KFF Health News and Cox Media Group jointly published and broadcast investigative reporting on the damage overpayments and clawbacks have done to millions of beneficiaries. When O’Malley, a former Democratic governor of Maryland, presented his plans to three congressional committees in March, lawmakers greeted him with rare bipartisan praise. But the past several months have shown how hard it can be to turn around a federal bureaucracy that is massive, complex, deeply dysfunctional, and, as it says, understaffed. Now O’Malley’s time may be running out. Lang of Justice in Aging, among the advocacy groups that have been meeting with O’Malley and other Social Security officials, said she appreciates how much the commissioner has achieved in a short time. But she added that O’Malley has “not been interested in hearing about our feelings that things have fallen short.” One long-standing policy O’Malley set out to change involves the burden of proof. When the Social Security Administration alleges someone has been overpaid and demands the money back, the burden is on the beneficiary to prove they were not at fault. Cecilia Malone, 24, a beneficiary in Lithonia, Georgia, said she and her parents spent hundreds of hours trying to get errors corrected. “Why is the burden on us to ‘prove’ we weren’t overpaid?” Malone said. It can be exceedingly difficult for beneficiaries to appeal a decision. The alleged overpayments, which can reach tens of thousands of dollars or more, often span years. And people struggling just to survive may have extra difficulty producing financial records from long ago. What’s more, in letters demanding repayment, the government does not typically spell out its case against the beneficiary — making it hard to mount a defense. Testifying before House and Senate committees in March, O’Malley promised to shift the burden of proof. “That should be on the agency,” he said. The agency expects to finalize “guidance” on the subject “in the coming months,” Hinkle said. The agency points to reduced wait times and other improvements in a phone system known to leave beneficiaries on hold. “In September, we answered calls to our national 800 number in an average of 11 minutes — a tremendous improvement from 42 minutes one year ago,” Hinkle said. Still, in response to a nonrepresentative survey by KFF Health News and Cox Media Group focused on overpayments, about half of respondents who said they contacted the agency by phone since April rated that experience as “poor,” and few rated it “good” or “excellent.” The survey was sent to about 600 people who had contacted KFF Health News to share their overpayment stories since September 2023. Almost 200 people answered the survey in September and October of this year. Most of those who said they contacted the agency by mail since April rated their experience as “poor.” Jennifer Campbell, 60, a beneficiary in Nelsonville, Ohio, said in late October that she was still waiting for someone at the agency to follow up as described during a phone call in May. “VERY POOR customer service!!!!!” Campbell wrote. “Nearly impossible to get a hold of someone,” wrote Kathryn Duff of Colorado Springs, Colorado, who has been helping a disabled family member. Letters from SSA have left Duff mystified. One was postmarked July 9, 2024, but dated more than two years earlier. Another, dated Aug. 18, 2024, said her family member was overpaid $31,635.80 in benefits from the Supplemental Security Income program, which provides money to people with little or no income or other resources who are disabled, blind, or at least 65. But Duff said her relative never received SSI benefits. What’s more, for the dates in question, payments listed in the letter to back up the agency’s math didn’t come close to $31,635.80; they totaled about a quarter of that amount. Regarding the 100% clawbacks, O’Malley in March said it’s “unconscionable that someone would find themselves facing homelessness or unable to pay bills, because Social Security withheld their entire payment for recovery of an overpayment.” He said that, starting March 25, if a beneficiary doesn’t respond to a new overpayment notice, the agency would default to withholding 10%. The agency warned of “a short transition period.” That change wasn’t automated until June 25, Hinkle said. The number of people newly placed in full withholding plummeted from 6,771 in February to 51 in September, according to data the agency provided. SSA said it would notify recipients they could request reduced withholding if it was already clawing back more than 10% of their monthly checks. Nonetheless, dozens of beneficiaries or their family members told KFF Health News and Cox Media Group they hadn’t heard they could request reduced withholding. Among those who did ask, roughly half said their requests were approved. According to the SSA, there has been almost a 20% decline in the number of people facing clawbacks of more than 10% but less than 100% of their monthly checks — from 141,316 as of March 8 to 114,950 as of Oct. 25, agency spokesperson Nicole Tiggemann said. Meanwhile, the number of people from whom the agency was withholding exactly 10% soared more than fortyfold — from just over 5,000 to well over 200,000. And the number of beneficiaries having any partial benefits withheld to recover an overpayment increased from almost 600,000 to almost 785,000, according to data Tiggemann provided. Lorraine Anne Davis, 72, of Houston, said she hasn’t received her monthly Social Security payment since June due to an alleged overpayment. Her Medicare premium was being deducted from her monthly benefit, so she’s been left to pay that out-of-pocket. Davis said she’s going to need a kidney transplant and had been trying to save money for when she’d be unable to work. Related Articles National News | California case is the first confirmed bird flu infection in a US child National News | Colorado funeral home owners accused of letting 190 bodies decay plead guilty to corpse abuse National News | Another E. coli recall: falafel bites from Florida, California and 16 other states National News | US budget airlines are struggling. Will pursuing premium passengers solve their problems? National News | Hyundai, Kia recall over 208,000 electric vehicles to fix problem that can cause loss of power A letter from the SSA dated April 8, 2024, two weeks after the new 10% withholding policy was slated to take effect, said it had overpaid her $13,538 and demanded she pay it back within 30 days. Apparently, the SSA hadn’t accounted for a pension Davis receives from overseas; Davis said she disclosed it when she filed for benefits. In a letter to her dated June 29, the agency said that, under its new policy, it would change the withholding to only 10% if she asked. Davis said she asked by phone repeatedly, and to no avail. “Nobody seems to know what’s going on” and “no one seems to be able to help you,” Davis said. “You’re just held captive.” In October, the agency said she’d receive a payment — in March 2025. Marley Presiado, a research assistant on the Public Opinion and Survey Research team at KFF, contributed to this report. ©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.mega casino slot 。

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The Reds ultimately left St James’ Park with only a point after Fabian Schar snatched a 3-3 draw at the end of a pulsating encounter, but Salah’s double – his 14th and 15th goals of the season – transformed a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead before the Switzerland defender’s late intervention. The 32-year-old Egypt international’s future at Anfield remains a topic of debate with his current contract running down. Asked about Salah’s future, Slot said: “It’s difficult for me to predict the long-term future, but the only thing I can expect or predict is that he is in a very good place at the moment. Two goals and an assist for Mo tonight 👏 pic.twitter.com/tMXidgeA0P — Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 4, 2024 “He plays in a very good team that provides him with good opportunities and then he is able to do special things. “And what makes him for me even more special is that in the first hour or before we scored to make it 1-1, you thought, ‘He’s not playing his best game today’, and to then come up with a half-hour or 45 minutes – I don’t know how long it was – afterwards with an assist, two goals, having a shot on the bar, being a constant threat, that is something not many players can do if they’ve played the first hour like he did. “That is also what makes him special. If you just look at the goals, his finish is so clinical. He’s a special player, but that’s what we all know.” Salah did indeed endure a quiet opening 45 minutes by his standards and it was the Magpies who went in at the break a goal to the good after Alexander Isak’s stunning 35th-minute finish. Slot said: “The shot from Isak, I don’t even know if Caoimh (keeper Caoimhin Kelleher) saw that ball, as hard as it was.” Salah set up Curtis Jones to level five minutes into the second half and after Anthony Gordon has restored the hosts’ lead, levelled himself from substitute Trent Alexander-Arnold’s 68th-minute cross. He looked to have won it with a fine turn and finish – his ninth goal in seven league games – seven minutes from time, only for Schar to pounce from a tight angle in the 90th minute. Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe was delighted with the way his team took the game to the Reds four days after their disappointing 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace. Howe, who admitted his surprise that VAR official Stuart Attwell had not taken a dimmer view of a Virgil van Dijk shoulder barge on Gordon, said: “It’s mixed emotions. “Part of me feels we should have won it – a big part of me – but part of me is pleased we didn’t lose either because it was such a late goal for us. “Generally, I’m just pleased with the performance. There was much more attacking output, a much better feel about the team. “There was much better energy, and it was a really good performance against, for me, the best team we’ve played so far this season in the Premier League, so it was a big jump forward for us.”International students urged to return to US campuses before Trump inauguration

Experience The Daikin Difference: Why Cool Rays Air Conditioning & Heating Trusts Daikin For Comfort NeedsHarnessing microRNA to tackle hard-to-treat infections. Storing renewable energy for when we need it most. Powering truck fleets with hydrogen to slash carbon emissions. Entrepreneurs across the country are fine-tuning novel solutions for some of the world’s thorniest problems. Here are just a few of the innovators who are poised to make great strides in 2025. The challenge with renewable energy sources is storage — without a way to bank excess energy for times when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing, we can’t fully transition to a carbonless future. CEO James Larsen and his team at e-Zinc have created a long-duration system that stores energy in rechargeable batteries that can be up to 80 per cent less expensive than their lithium-ion counterparts. Plus, zinc is easily recyclable. This makes it a sustainable backup power option — a boon for data centres and hospitals, as well as places susceptible to natural disasters or remote locations that typically rely on diesel. “For applications that require a long-duration storage, we are the low-cost technology,” says Larsen. The big build: The company completed construction on its own manufacturing and testing facility in Mississauga earlier this year. What’s next: As e-Zinc gears up to launch its first two commercial pilots, Larsen and his team are focused on fine-tuning the technology. Although insulin has been a lifesaver for people living with type 1 diabetes, the treatment comes with its own complications. Diabetics use the hormone to manage glucose in their blood, but taking too much of it can result in hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), which can cause dizziness, confusion and seizures — and even death, if left untreated. Toronto-based biotech firm Zucara Therapeutics is developing a preventative daily-dose therapeutic that would work in tandem with insulin to regulate blood-sugar levels 24/7. The medication targets glucagon, the hormone that releases glucose — which is compromised in people with diabetes — triggering it “to turn on at the right times and travel to the liver to release glucose that’s been stored as glycogen, bringing blood sugar levels back up,” in balance with insulin that’s been injected, explains CEO Michael Midmer. The big raise: The company raised $20 million (U.S.) in Series B financing in 2024. What’s next: Zucara is currently recruiting for Phase 2 trials. The team is also exploring longer-acting doses that would allow patients to administer the drug just once per week. For any business that makes and sells products, the entire process can be held up — or derailed altogether — if a single component goes astray. This is particularly tricky when you’re waiting on a part (even a tiny one) to be shipped in from elsewhere in the world. “Globalized supply chains are really inefficient and unreliable — and it seems to be getting worse and worse,” says Mitch Debora, the CEO and co-founder of Mosaic Manufacturing . “We want to help customers make things they need right where they need them — in their factory.” His company’s Array system, which Debora describes as a “factory in a box,” lets users 3D-print necessary parts for any machine on the spot, eliminating the need to rely on inefficient international sourcing. The big raise: In September, Mosaic secured $28 million in growth funding. What’s next: According to a recent McKinsey report, 60 per cent of CEOs surveyed are working to regionalize their supply chains. To meet this demand, Debora says, Mosaic is scaling up, with the aim of providing next-day deliveries to customers (think Amazon Prime, but for manufacturing components). Buildings are responsible for 17 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — and that figure doesn’t include construction, which bumps up the damage to about 30 per cent. Sheida Shahi and her team at Adaptis are working to lower those numbers. The Toronto-based startup has designed an AI platform that allows real estate owners, asset managers, developers and architects to assess a building’s carbon emissions over the course of its entire life cycle and make decisions on how to optimize new builds, retrofits and ongoing operations. Not only does this help shrink the building’s carbon footprint, it can also lead to significant reductions in energy costs. “By designing buildings for adaptability, reusability and recyclability, we can eliminate up to 60 per cent of demolition activity globally and 25 per cent of landfill waste,” explains Shahi. Key stats: In 2024, Adaptis helped divert more than 6,000 tonnes of waste and avoid more than 108,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. What’s next: In 2025, Shahi and her team want to smash those records. The goal? Divert four times more waste and avoid 10 times more carbon dioxide. As temperatures rise, air conditioning is increasingly becoming more of a necessity than a luxury. But because AC units are energy intensive and require GHG-refrigerants to operate, they contribute to a vicious cycle: the more we use them, the more we contribute to climate change, which compels us to crank up the AC even more. Evelyn Allen and her team at Evercloak are working on a small but powerful way to mitigate some of that cycle. Using a proprietary graphene-oxide membrane technology, the Kitchener-based company decouples humidity and temperature control, making HVACs more energy efficient and reducing the use of GHG-emitting refrigerants. This ultrathin nanofilm could have an outsized impact: Allen estimates that it could improve a building’s cooling efficiency by 50 per cent. “By modernizing a large, legacy sector, Evercloak aims to meet growing demands for energy efficiency, environmental sustainability and enhanced control and comfort,” she explains. The buzz: Evercloak closed a $2-million oversubscribed seed round in February and in July it won $ 1.1 million from National Resources Canada’s Energy Innovation Program. What’s next: Allen and her team are preparing to deploy demonstration units in the coming months. As well, the company will be conducting tests at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Renewable Laboratory. Freight transportation accounts for 10.5 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse emissions — most of it coming from big-rig trucks . “Many of them not only emit when they are on the road, but also when they are stationary,” says Pierre-Xavier Roy, the COO and co-founder of Toronto-based startup Hydro Cool . As trucks carrying perishable items are being unloaded or loaded and sitting in a distribution centre, they are kept idling in order to keep their cargo chilled. Hydro Cool is developing smart, zero-carbon mobile refrigeration units that run on hydrogen and use predictive control methods AI to optimize temperatures and maximize efficiency to keep food fresh. These new units will not only offer a more sustainable method of transporting food and pharmaceuticals, they also minimize spoilage and reduce costs. “Hydrogen is important for applications that need very fast refuelling and require very long range,” says Roy, adding that when it comes to heavy-duty transport, hydrogen “is the only solution to decarbonization.” The target: Hydro Cool is zeroing in on big retailers that have massive fleets to transport frozen goods. What’s next: Roy and his team are preparing to launch units with a large Canadian company, and have signed agreements with two other corporations. In Canada, diverse pathways to parenthood can be expensive as well as emotionally and physically draining. For many, it can also be inaccessible: fertility treatments, surrogacy, sperm donors and private adoption are not covered under traditional employer-provided health plans. Sprout Family co-founders Jackie Hanson and Suze Mason are very familiar with these reproductive barriers: Hanson was born through IVF and has a brother who’s adopted. Knowing how hard the journey can be, Hanson and Mason launched Sprout Family, a digital health platform that administers benefits for reproductive care as an add-on for employers’ pre-existing benefits plan. “Rather than just covering the common things, like fertility drugs, we provide more comprehensive financial coverage that will support you regardless of the pathway,” says Mason. “This isn’t just a women’s health issue, it’s a human health-care issue.” The big numbers: While 20 per cent of Canadians have sought some sort of fertility treatment, approximately only two per cent of Canadian employers include reproductive health in their benefits plans. It’s not just about family planning: challenges in accessing this care can result in lower job retention, lost productivity and mental health issues. What’s next: Sprout Family plans to expand its team as the company prepares to launch its platform with several insurers across North America in 2025. Infections or injuries can sometimes lead to sepsis, a severe response wherein a person’s immune system begins to wreak havoc on their tissues and organs. The complication is notoriously difficult to treat; indeed, the only existing therapy is antibiotics, which can tackle symptoms, but “doesn’t really address the underlying immune dysregulation,” explains Sam McWhirter. McWhirter is the co-founder and CEO of NorthMiRs , which is working on a way to holistically treat heart failure in sepsis patients. The Toronto-based company is harnessing the power of microRNA, which regulates how cells create proteins, to develop “a gene therapy approach to sepsis,” as McWhirter puts it. The buzz: In 2024, NorthMiRs was awarded a CIHR grant that will fund a second large animal study. The company also won $250,000 in a pitch competition through the Ted Rogers Centre of Heart Research, which will be used for more animal studies to complete its clinical trial application. What’s next: NorthMiRs is meeting with potential manufacturing partners and exploring commercialization options. While lowering greenhouse gas emissions is critical to the health of the planet, dealing with all the carbon that’s already in the atmosphere has become an increasingly urgent priority. Direct air capture, which uses chemical reactions or physical filters to remove and contain ambient CO2, is a key strategy. One problem: most direct air capture technologies don’t work effectively at sub-zero temperatures. Ottawa-based TerraFixing aims to overcome that barrier by using filters made with a mineral called zeolite to absorb the carbon instead of liquids that freeze easily. “No other technologies have been gearing their developments toward cold climates,” says Vida Gabriel, the company’s COO. TerraFixing’s technology is actually more effective in cold, dry climates: those conditions make it easier to catch carbon and separate out water molecules, which in turn makes the startup’s approach more cost effective than typical systems. The big raise: In 2024, TerraFixing closed a $1.6-million seed round and opened up two R&D labs at the University of Ottawa. What’s next: The company is gearing up to launch a $10-million pilot project with Tugliq Énergie. The renewable energy provider is building a facility in northern Quebec that will integrate two of TerraFixing’s units. Its 20-foot prototype, which can suck up 1,000 tonnes of carbon annually, will be ready to start operations in 2025. Anyone who’s had a Pap smear knows how uncomfortable this (very necessary) procedure is. So far, there is no mainstream alternative to test for HPV, cervical cancer and other life-threatening reproductive diseases. CELLECT co-founder Ibukun Elebute wants to change that. She is working to come up with a more inclusive, less invasive option that uses menstrual blood to provide health screening for women, non-binary and trans people. The early-stage startup, which is based in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, is developing a DNA collection device that integrates seamlessly into menstrual products, offering a more accessible alternative to pap smears. The motivation: “There’s a lot of women who won’t go in for lifesaving screenings because they’ve heard bad things about it, or because of cultural barriers or trauma,” says Elebute. What’s next: Elebute and her team are building a prototype and raising a round of seed funding. Rebecca Gao writes about technology for MaRS . Torstar, the parent company of the Toronto Star, has partnered with MaRS to highlight innovation in Canadian companies.

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